Revenge Cake
by restlessxpen
Summary: Sam's turning thirty, and Emily's throwing a birthday bash. Against everyone's better judgment, Leah's on the guest list, and she's not happy. It may not be wise for Jake to step into the line of fire, but people do crazy things for cake and revenge.
1. Who Wants Some Cake?

**"A Very Sexy Un-Birthday Contest"  
****Title: Revenge Cake  
****Author(s): restlessxpen  
****Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, but I have an amazing time with them. All characters and related material belong to Stephenie Meyer  
****To view other entries for this contest, please visit http://www (dot) fanfiction (dot) net/community/A_Very_Sexy_Un-Birthday_Contest/78947/**

**Author Notes:** This is an entry for the Very _Sexy_ Un-bday contest. You should know what to expect. :P Take a look. Tell me what you think.

* * *

"It's a surprise," Emily said. "It'll be at our house tonight around eight o'clock."

I didn't think that Sam was really the type for surprise birthday parties, but turning thirty had to come with some sort of recognition, right? After the thrills of turning twenty-one, a guy needed a party or two to keep his spirits up as he climbed toward gray hairs and arthritis. Maybe it would lighten up what seemed like Sam's permanently bleak outlook.

I doubted it.

"Jake?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm here," I told the mouth of the telephone, scratching the stubble that had grown on my face overnight.

I nudged a pile of clothes over, watching them as they unrolled on the floor, deciding that they were all probably too dirty to wear tonight. I'd have to do the laundry to find anything party-worthy, but there was something that concerned me more than the proper attire needed to ring in your friend's thirtieth birthday.

"Who all is invited?" I asked.

Emily drew in a breath, hesitant. I felt the same apprehension as I turned toward my window. I poked a finger into the blinds, bending one downward to peek outside. Emily's call had stirred me from sleep, and I was irritated to find that it was still early morning. The sun was barely beginning to climb above the trees.

Aside from patrol duty, I'd spent a long night negotiating a renewed treaty with the Cullen's. Their Volturi friends had been coming annoyingly close lately, and, though Carlisle had reassured me that he had the situation under control, I didn't trust them. The meeting had been exhausting. It was hard to make a new treaty when the first one had been so thoroughly obliterated that it seemed laughable to attempt another.

They'd bitten a human, they'd changed a human, and they hadn't made any apologies.

I released the blind and listened to it snap shut, trying not to think of Bella. All of these years, and it was still hard to deal with her. Vampire or not, married to Edward Cullen or not, things hadn't changed as drastically for me as they had for her. My feelings still existed, though I was becoming better and better at hiding them.

Sooner or later, I was sure that I was bound to forget them. There were really weak moments when I wished, like a coward, to finally find my imprint so that I could block Bella out completely, but I was beginning to think that I didn't have an imprint.

Wouldn't that be my luck?

"Well," Emily said, "I invited Paul and Embry, Quil and Seth, a few other guys from La Push and... Leah."

I sat down on the edge of my bed, pinching the bridge of my nose and closing my eyes. Inviting Leah to Sam's birthday party wasn't the smartest thing in the world, but, the problem was, _not_ inviting Leah to Sam's birthday party was probably an even worse idea.

Leah's bitterness toward Sam hadn't faded any more than my feelings for Bella had. Years had passed since he'd first imprinted on Emily, but Leah held to that moment of betrayal like a moth clings to a street light, bumping and bouncing against it with blind determination. It hurt and it was dangerous, but she just couldn't let go. Keeping her at a modest distance from Sam—especially from Sam _and_ Emily together—was the best thing that anyone could do.

However, excluding Leah from Sam's birthday party would have added insult to injury. Though she, in all likelihood, really didn't want to be there to begin with, she'd be even more pissed if she _didn't_ have that chance to be there and sulk and glare.

"Was that a bad idea?" Emily asked, anxious.

"No, no, I don't think so. It'll be fine, Em," I assured her. "I'll see you tonight."

This was definitely a bad idea.

I smirked. _Happy birthday, Sam. Aren't you in for a big one? _

---

Hostility was heavy in the far corner of Sam's living room. Leah lurked there like a phantom, her face shifting in and out of the shadows where the lamplight didn't reach as she turned her head from side to side, watching Sam's birthday party guests with unbridled disdain. I didn't think that she hated any of them in particular, but I imagined that each one of them was taking on Sam's face as they moved past, though Sam himself was warily keeping to the opposite side of the room in a small crowd that kept him from her view.

I didn't blame him. Standing on one side of Embry, who was talking to Sam excitedly about something I hadn't been paying enough attention to, I had glanced over my shoulder when the heat on the back of my neck became unbearable, and had found that it was thanks to Leah, who had been glaring so determinedly through me toward where Sam stood on the other side of me that I'd physically felt her anger.

I'd lifted a brow at her, but she'd merely scowled at me and had turned her attention to Seth—the only one brave enough to approach his sister. As beautiful as she was, she was unapproachable with that look on her face, that sort of rigidness in her posture. I'd seen plenty of the other men from La Push—Emily's guests outside of the wolf pack—stealing glances at her only to hurry away in fear. Leah's silky black hair, full lips, and slender, but ample, build wasn't enough to hide the fact that she was obviously a hellcat who wasn't above ripping a man's heart out.

Even Seth didn't last long. Even his still youthful enthusiasm couldn't crack his sister's shell. I watched the smile he'd approached her with wilt into a frown as, whatever he said to her, was answered with what was bound to be a snide remark that flattened any of Seth's compassion for his sister.

"I just wanted to tell you all thank you for coming!"

I looked around at Emily as she began speaking. Despite the scars on her face, Emily had an aura that drew people in. Everyone grew quiet, turning their focus to her where she stood just in the doorway, having emerged fresh from the kitchen. She gave a small smile to the eyes turned toward her.

"We wanted you all to know how much you mean to Sam and I for sharing this day with us."

I didn't have to look to see that the one that snorted at this was Leah. I made a face, feeling her presence in the corner of the room like a heavy storm cloud in an otherwise clear sky. Even I knew when it was the right time to be an asshole and when it was the wrong time. I gave Emily credit for ignoring it.

She continued, "You all are welcome to any of the food and drink here, but I wanted you to know that we'll be moving outside soon for the bonfire before the cake."

Her smile widened, pushing up toward her eyes, and then she left her small spotlight and went to Sam, who had lifted a hand toward her. She tucked herself underneath his arm, and I glanced around again in time to see Leah practically turning red.

Shit. Looked like I was going to have to handle the she wolf.

What the hell was I thinking?

I crossed the room toward the corner that everyone had been making a wide berth to avoid. Leah watched me approach, and I frowned right back at her as she frowned at me. I took a drink of the punch in the plastic cup I'd been carrying, wishing that it had been spiked. Being slightly intoxicated wasn't a bad thing when you had to deal with a headache like Leah.

"Come on. Let's talk."

I spoke low, taking her elbow in my free hand. I expected her to resist, and she did for a second, until she heard the soft sound of Emily's laughter from where she stood in the group, nestled under Sam's arm. That got Leah moving.

I led her to the kitchen, and I was glad to find that no one else was there. Just us, the cake, and a bottle of champagne that was still unopened. I saw Leah scowl at the cake with it's scrawled blue letters that read, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SAM!"

She stood with her hip wedged against the end of the counter, arms folded, her chin tilted in a challenging angle. Her eyes lingered on the cake. I was rethinking my decision to bring her anywhere near anything with Sam's name on it, but as long as the only thing she planned to do was give it the stink eye, I could deal with it.

"Was that necessary?"

"What do you think?"

I sighed. "Leah, it's been years. You've got to let it go."

She looked up at me. I wished that she had kept staring at the cake instead. Her mouth was contorted so thoroughly that I wondered how it wasn't locked in a permanent grimace. I had gone through my own bouts of self-loathing and bitterness, but, looking at Leah, my darker emotions felt inferior. The pain was all in her eyes, in the purse of her lips, and the defensiveness of the arms folded across her chest.

"Oh really, Black? You want to teach me how? You did such an amazing job with Bella."

It was a low-blow that I should have expected. Leah wasn't above playing dirty, but I winced anyway, feeling the cold slap of her sarcasm against my face. Having seen Bella only the night before made things worse. Her face was still an open wound. Each time I had to see her, it took days for the injury to heal.

Maybe Leah was right. Maybe I _was_ a hypocrite, but I didn't go to Bella's house and glare from the shadows in a corner, laughing at everything Edward said, despite how much I might have wanted to.

"Kiss my ass, Leah. At least I don't look like a pathetic ass every time I see her and Edward together."

Fighting fire with fire with Leah wasn't the right choice. I knew that. I knew it better than just about anyone, but damn it if I wasn't going to do it anyway. If she was going to hit my Bella buttons, I was going to bruise her pride. There was too much of it anyway. It was crowding the room with us, and it was pissing me off.

The stress that lingered from last night didn't feel like being goaded right now.

"_What?_" she snarled. "I don't—I'm not—_You asshole_! I'm pathetic? You're the one that chased Bella around like a pathetic fucking puppy! At least I kept my dignity!"

Dignity? HA! That's what she wanted to call sulking in a corner? Annoyance turned into anger, bubbling red in my vision. She looked so damned smug and self-righteous with her chin tilted like that, her eyes sparking with embers of fire.

"You—."

"Jake? Leah? We're all heading outside now. Come on!" Seth called.

"We'll be there in a second!" Leah hissed.

"Oh? You want to go out there and make a fool of yourself again?" I snapped.

"Fuck you!"

"Ah—okay," Seth spoke hesitantly, stopping just short of coming into the kitchen as he overheard us. "We'll be outside. See you guys out there."

He was smart to flee the scene. I was about to kick his sister's ass, and I didn't think he'd want to be around to see that fight. It was about time for someone to knock sense back into her dense skull. Telling _me_ that _I_ was pathetic! What a crock!

"You realize that everyone out there knows that you're still obsessed with him, right? They used to feel sorry for you. Now we all think you should suck it up."

Leah stood straight, dropping her arms to her sides. I watched her hands curl up into fists, and I wondered if she would initiate the fight. If she wanted to be that stupid, I welcomed it. One good wolf fight would definitely cleanse my system of some very pent up anger. I felt slightly sorry that we were about to destroy Sam and Emily's kitchen, but I thought they might both thank me afterward.

"You _idiot_! Everyone knows that you cry yourself to sleep at night for Bella, like some pitiful child. All you've done for years is mope about her marrying that leech, and _she's_ a leech now too, and you _still_ want to fuck her!" Leah snarled, waving a hand dramatically at me, thrusting a finger in my face. "Do you even still know how to use your dick, Black? Or did it wilt like a little crumpled flower from ill-use?"

I didn't mean to be the first to do it, but I shoved Leah backward, forcing her into the counter that surely dug painfully into her hip. I saw her wince, but she covered it quickly, baring her teeth in a snarl as she shoved back against me.

"What the hell would you know, Leah? Have you ever even been with anyone else?"

"I know _plenty_!" Leah shot back, and then, she did something that shut me up, clamping her hand over my jeans so that she cupped my dick. "Yup! Just what I thought! Completely unimpressive!"

The fact that my dick was in Leah's already agitated hand was frightening, but she'd already pissed me off enough that I was still seeing red, and I was still stoked for a fight, though there was definitely a weird angle on this now with Leah groping my jeans.

"Unimpressive?" I scoffed. "An erection requires attraction, Clearwater."

Leah's mouth opened, a quiet smacking sound of disbelief. I wanted to laugh a really loud victory laugh for having hit the insult on the head. Maybe if you looked too hard you'd miss it, but I hadn't. Leah was vain. When Sam had left her, she had not only had her feelings hurt, but her ego as well. Maybe the others had tuned out her incessant prattling about Sam after the initial months after the breakup, but I'd caught those underlying egotistical remarks she had made to herself when she thought no one was looking.

_"How could he choose her?" _I had heard her think on more than one occasion. _"I'm much more attractive than she is. Look at us, Sam! What the hell are you thinking?" _

I saw the same thing turning the cogs of her brain right then, the disbelief that maybe I really wasn't attracted to her, the realization that she had just assumed that most of the guys in the pack—if not all—had been attracted to her if they still weren't. It was satisfying, but only so much as something can be when an angry girl has your dick in her grip.

Like a small act of mercy, Leah removed her hand, and lifted it, instead, to wrap a hand around my collar and yank my face down to hers.

"Coming from a guy that thinks bloodsuckers are sexy, I'm hard-pressed to be offended, you moron," she growled.

I could see the heat in her eyes much more clearly from this level. They were like little dark, scorching balls of fire, daring me to tempt her to lay me out, like she thought that she could actually take me. Her lips were still parted. I could see little squares of her teeth. I could feel the heat of her breath. From this proximity, I might have even faintly heard the gathering blood in her body, pumping a little quicker than usual. I wondered if she was angry enough to phase.

"Bella's not the only girl I've ever found attractive. You remember Wendy?"

Leah squinted, as if trying to recall, and then she laughed. "Wendy Lucane? The outsider?"

Wendy had moved into the reservation in grade school days. She'd long since gone back to where ever she'd come from, and she was only a faint impression in my mind, but she was the first one to crop up for use in my current argument.

"Yeah. She was hot as hell too," I told her. "Sorry you don't make the cut."

I felt hot. Warmth was spreading from my mouth to the back of my skull, down my throat, and through my body. It took me a few confused seconds to realize that this was because Leah had given one hard, fateful jerk of my collar, and she'd brought my lips down against hers.

Holy _shit_.

Even realizing this, I couldn't quite understand it. How was I suddenly kissing Leah? Why were her lips on mine, hot and seeking and hungry? Why did her tongue sneak past my lips to caress my own, dancing languidly until I couldn't help but to respond.

I'd thought, for a long time now, that my sex drive had been murdered for good. I thought that, after Bella married Edward, I'd never know the meaning of lust again, that all my semen would just dry up and blow away like dust, and that there would never be little Jacob Black's running around anywhere, but as Leah—the object of much scorn in my life—came alive against me, I started thinking about how much I really _did_ want to exercise my more primitive feelings of desire again.

Leah was slender, but toned and still shapely. I put my hands against her for the first time, feeling her stomach before sliding up to feel her perky little breasts that fit right into my hands. The nipples were already taut, and I rubbed them roughly with my thumbs, feeling them right through her bra.

She groaned as I did this, and it did all sorts of things to the equipment in my pants that I had actually, privately, felt _might_ have been broken.

_Holy shit,_ I thought again. _No way. No way I'm groping Leah. No way I'm kissing her, thinking of fucking her. What the hell had happened to the world? _

I pressed against her, and she bumped into the counter again, jarring just a sliver of sense into my brain. It was enough to force me to realize that we were in Sam's kitchen, in Sam's house, right next to Sam's birthday cake, but it wasn't enough to make me give a damn.

Leah tilted her head, her tongue sliding deeper into my mouth. I felt her silky hair brush my face, and then I knew that this was not enough. Somewhere between negotiations with vampires and telling Leah that she was a pathetic waste, I had been beaten about the head and come to the crazy conclusion that I might have actually really been attracted to Leah all of this time.

Ha. Yeah. Okay.

But it would explain why I was currently redirecting my hands to travel up underneath the material of her shirt, around to her back, where I could unclasp her bra, because that's what I was doing. As Leah kissed me brainless, I unhooked her bra and had full control of her breasts, which I took hungrily into my hands again.

Somewhere outside, gathered around a blazing bonfire, were our friends and her old lover, but I didn't give a shit. How long had it been since I'd had sex? Real, dirty, sweaty, hungry sex?

"Well, look at that, Jake, looks like it works after all."

I'd gone stiff, and it was now pressing heavily into the inside of Leah's thigh. She pulled away from my mouth, glancing down in between us with gloating satisfaction. I had half a notion that this had all been some stupid test to prove that she could turn me on, but it was about to be a lot more than some game.

"Better check," I said, practically growling. "Better check to make sure it actually works."

Leah looked up at me, her face registering surprise. "What?"

She gave a sexy little gasp as I reached for her pants. It was about then that I realized she was wearing a skirt. Why the fuck hadn't I noticed that before? Oh yeah, because I hadn't been attracted to her until about five seconds ago when she'd fucking kissed me. Well, smart thinking on her part for her little skirt. It was about to make things a lot easier.

I lifted her skirt. I pulled her panties down, and I plunged my fingers in—two of them, to the knuckles, straight to her warm, wet core. Leah let out another gasp, but this one was ragged. Her hand pawed blindly for my forearm where she took hold as if to steady herself.

"Jacob," she panted.

And I could hear all her unspoken questions.

_Are we really doing this? What about Sam and everyone outside? I thought you weren't fucking attracted to me? Holy shit, how did we get here?_

But she didn't seem to care either, because she was already working my pants down and off. Her hand slid up and down my length once, but she was anxious, and, really, so was I. I was thrilled to see that everything still worked, and I was ready to put it to the real test. The big one.

I cupped her ass and lifted her onto me. She slid right down, and I slid right up inside of her, like it was perfect, like it was meant to be. She gave a husky groan of pure delight, and I greedily caught one of her nipples in my mouth, sucking, biting. Her shirt and bra were still pushed up her chest where I had greedily shoved them aside earlier. She had the best looking skin, all smooth and bronze, and I wanted to caress all of it. I wanted to taste it.

"Jacob," she said my name again as I pumped into her. "Jacob, the counter's digging into my ass. It fucking hurts."

"Shit," I cursed. "Sorry."

Oops. I pulled out of her, to my deepest regret, slow and carefully, feeling every part of her pull at me to keep me in, to keep me sunk right into her deepest, warmest center. Her fingers dug into my shoulders as she slid down onto her own two feet.

We were both breathing heavily, looking at each other with wide-eyed, hungry disbelief. Neither of us were done. I didn't have to ask. I took her by the arm, but she was already turning around, bending over the counter top as I took her from behind in long, hard strokes. I felt the movement jar her. I could hear the quick catches of her breath.

"Harder, Jacob."

It was hard to hold back. Harder and faster was the way that I wanted it too, but I wasn't positive I could last if I caved to that temptation. It had been a long time since I'd had sex with anyone, since the rebound girl I'd taken home from a bar after Bella's wedding, and I didn't want to let this go too quick after discovering how hot Leah really was.

"Harder," she growled again.

Yes, ma'am.

I took her hips in my hands, drew out, and then forced myself back in, driving her onto her tip-toes as I sunk into her, tearing like fire and ecstasy into her depths so that she cried out loud, and I groaned with her, straining over the top of her to kiss her back, to bite her shoulder. I reached around her, holding the counter so that I could really drive into her, and it was then that I realized that I'd forced her right into Sam's cake.

It covered her chest and nipples and the top of her stomach. It no longer said, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SAM!" but, instead, said, "HA IRTHDAY!"

"Leah."

She laughed, almost maniacal. "Don't fucking stop, Black. I don't give a shit."

There was now something incredibly sexy about cake. Especially birthday cake. I couldn't really remember how far away my own birthday was at the moment, but I knew that, next time it came around, I definitely wanted Leah's firm breasts planted in it.

One hand on the counter, one hand massaging the cake and icing on her right nipple—squeezing, pinching, pulling—I pounded into her. I rode her. I took her like I had never taken anyone, and felt sole proprietorship, like she was actually _mine_.

I wondered where Sam's name went. I wondered if it was stuck to her breasts or her stomach, and then I thought that it really didn't matter.

I pressed my mouth against her hair, right over her ear.

"When I'm done, I'm going to lick all of this off of you," I warned her.

I felt her shudder, tightening around me, and that was what I needed. That was the icing on _my_ cake. I filled her and filled her. I rocked with her as I came inside of her, and I felt her tightening around me still further, as if she sensed my climax and was responding with one of her own. I wasn't done. I wanted it to go on forever.

"Leah? Jacob?"

Oh. Shit.

Both of us froze. Leah was still in the cake, bent over the counter, and I was still behind her, one hand on her breast, and the other still on the counter. We were both facing toward the kitchen door when Sam walked through.

I saw the shock all over his face as he realized—pretty quickly—what was going on. I didn't think there was any way _not_ to know. It was pretty fucking obvious considering that my pants were around my ankles, and that Leah was all but completely naked and covered in _his_ birthday cake. I felt the heat rise to my face from lust and guilt and satisfaction, but also from mortification and disbelief with myself.

_Had I actually just fucked my friend's ex right on top of his birthday cake? Was I really here, right now, with my dick still inside of Leah? _

Why couldn't I really regret it?

I felt like I should apologize, that I should at least say something to break this crunching silence, but I really wasn't sure what there was that I could say considering that I was still pretty confused myself and was coming down from a sexual high that was pretty mind-blowing.

"What the—What the hell is going on?" Sam stammered.

And then Leah laughed. She laughed long and loud, and I could feel each of those laughs tear through her as if I was laughing myself. She laughed until there were tears in her eyes.

After she was done, she said just about the only thing that there was left to say.

"That's right!" She snarled, making me feel her satisfaction. "We just _fucked _on your birthday cake. Happy birthday, you son of a bitch!"

It wasn't a birthday party anymore.

It was Leah's revenge.


	2. You're Giving Me a Sweet Tooth

**Author Notes: **Sadly, Revenge Cake didn't place in the contest, but the plus side is that, now that it's over, I can start posting the rest of the story. ;) Though my original intention was to have this be a one-shot, I fell in love with the Jake and Leah that developed out of this story, and I can't let them go. I hope you enjoy the delicious, cake-filled ride that I have in store for you all! Don't forget to review and tell me what you think!

* * *

"What is this, Leah?"

"I don't know. Imprinting?"

Crammed into Emily and Sam's tiny bathroom, the two of us were attempting to clean off the icing and dress ourselves. The problem was that we kept bumping into each other, and despite my mortification of having been caught in the act by Sam, I was starting to actually get hard again. Every time one of her perky breasts brushed against my shoulder as she tried to share the running tap water from the sink with me, I could feel my dick begin to strain with the growing pressure.

I knew that she noticed this as well, because she locked her knees and bent over to retrieve the skirt that was still around her ankles. As she drew it back up her legs, she took her time, skimming the tanned flesh of her legs with her fingers, biting her bottom lip. I got a perfect view of her ass.

I winced in pain, but the pain wouldn't force the erection down. I tried to remind myself that I'd _just_ had sex with Leah, but this only gathered the blood faster. How the fuck was I turned on again? And why? Hadn't being humiliated in front of my best friend, being covered in his damn birthday cake, been enough to permanently dampen any future hints of arousal?

"This can't be an imprint," I hissed. "You provoked me."

Leah shrugged. Her attention was on the floor as she turned slow circles, trying to locate something. I could hear the click-click of the heels I had only noticed she was wearing when we'd escaped to the bathroom to leave Sam standing in the kitchen with his mouth agape.

"Have you seen my bra?"

_Don't think about it, Jacob. Don't think about her tits again_.

"No," I growled. "It's probably still in the kitchen."

"Shit," Leah snorted. "I guess I'll do without."

She'd tossed her shirt onto the side of the bathtub when she'd been focusing on washing off the cake. She started to turn to retrieve it, but I caught her by the elbow.

"Wait. You missed some."

"Oh. I'll—"

I ducked my head, sucked her nipple into my mouth, and cleaned off the fleck of icing with my tongue.

"Fuck," she groaned.

I would have liked to. I couldn't make much sense of how I'd gotten to this place, licking icing off of Leah Clearwater's bare breast, but I was feeling a lot like I didn't want to leave any time soon. I hadn't been this fucking nuts for someone, this aroused, since Bella. Not an imprint—no—but definitely _something_.

My hands were on her waist. She caught one and guided it lower. I got the message loud and clear, but her hand remained over mine as she urged my fingers into her. Her walls closed around them as they sought entrance.

"We're really going to do this again?" I muttered, finding her neck with my mouth.

She tilted her head to the side, obliging.

"Don't blame me," she purred. "You're the one with the raging boner."

Her free hand grazed my pants, and I nicked her collarbone with my teeth, making her shudder.

"You're pretty wet yourself," I retorted.

I wiggled my fingers, and she squeezed.

"Do you taste as good as the cake?"

Leah chuckled. "You want to find out?"

Someone knocked on the bathroom door.

"Hey, what's taking you guys so long?"

"Shit!" Leah hissed, pushing me away at the sound of her brother's voice.

She tugged her shirt on so fast that I barely had time to realize she'd picked it up again. She threw my own at me. It hit me on the chest, and I caught it before it could drop to the floor. She'd already located and stepped into her panties before I managed to get the shirt on. I thought to wash my fingers that surely smelled like Leah's wonderland pussy, but she'd fluffed her hair when the notion crossed my mind, checked herself in the mirror, and had the door open before I could even turn to the sink.

Seth stood leaning against the door frame, grinning like a guy with a secret.

"So," he said, "I heard about your little fiasco. Emily's pretty upset too."

He'd heard about it? Then why the hell was he grinning? Who grinned when they found out that their sister had just degraded a cake with her breasts while their friend pounded her from behind? I felt my face heat. Leah cleared her throat.

"She is?" I managed to croak.

"Well, yeah!" Seth snorted. "I mean, what were you guys thinking? I heard you fighting in the kitchen, but I honestly didn't think you would use the cake as a weapon!"

"A weapon?" Leah choked.

"Yeah, Sam told me you knocked it off when you started fighting."

He looked me up and down, lifting a brow.

"By the sound of the fist fight, I sort of expected you to have a few marks on you, Jake."

I glanced at Leah, and then back at Seth. A fist fight? Sam had told everyone we'd been _fighting_ in the kitchen? He'd _lied_?

"You know your sister," I hurried along with the fabricated story, "she has a temper."

Leah shot me a look. "Yeah. I guess I got carried away. I should have been more careful where I was shoving him. I shoved him right into the cake, and it fell off. I came in here to help him clean it off as a peace treaty."

Seth shook his head, clucking his tongue.

"Well, you'd better come on. You guys destroyed the main cake, but Emily bought two since she knew that we would probably finish one off pretty quick, and Sam's getting ready to blow out the candles."

Seth pushed away from the door and sauntered off down the hall. Leah and I watched him go in silence, glanced at each other, and then finally followed after. We passed through the kitchen, and I found myself searching the floor as we went.

Someone—Sam, I was guessing—had found Leah's bra and disposed of it. The cake had also been cleaned up. I had to figure Sam did that part as well, considering the impression of Leah's breasts in the cake would have been pretty obvious.

When we came into the dining room, everyone was already seated. The group having just come in from outside, they smelled of smoke from the fire. I edged around the table to find a seat. The only two left were side-by-side, which put Leah right next to me again. Despite everything, my mind was still in the gutter, and my cock was twitching the same. The only thing that kept me from glancing down at her breasts—her nipples, free from a bra, were protruding against the material of her shirt—was the sight of Emily at the end of the table near Sam. It was obvious that she had cried at some point after finding that her main cake had been ruined.

I wondered what it would have been like if she'd known how that cake had _really_ met its end. I glanced toward Sam. He was scowling down at the table in front of him. I shifted in my seat, trying to find a small measure of comfort that had evacuated the premises altogether.

After several long seconds of silence that felt like the beginning of my punishment for screwing Leah in Sam's kitchen, on his cake, Emily finally seemed to realize where she was again. She cleared her throat and pushed to her feet.

She started saying something that sounded a lot like her speech before, "Thanks for coming", and, "We appreciate you all," and some other stuff that I went deaf to as Leah suddenly slid her hand over onto my lap. I started a little, but no one noticed since Emily had called their attention.

I glanced over at Leah. She was looking directly at Emily, but I could see the way the corner of her mouth was stretched upward in a coy smile. What the hell had I gotten myself into? Where had all of this attraction come from? Why could I, suddenly, not think about anything but the idea of having Leah again? And again and again and again? I felt like someone had warped my reality.

Leah massaged the crotch of my pants, and I was getting stiff again as Emily lit the candles of Sam's backup birthday cake.

---

The party seemed to drag on forever. I'd declined my slice of cake that I no longer felt that I deserved and had watched Leah happily devour her own without a shred of guilt. It seemed like I was the only one unhappy about how we'd both just scarred Sam for life.

The only positive spin I could put on this was that I had successfully worked Leah out of her corner. She didn't scowl or glare or make snide comments the rest of the party. She laughed and talked with the other guests, though she carefully avoided Sam and Emily, and even took every open opportunity to grab my ass when we passed each other.

It was a little like she'd reversed roles with Sam, who was now the one that seemed to be sulking and glowering when Emily wasn't looking. I wondered what exactly it was that had pissed him off the most: the fact that I'd had sex with his ex, or the fact that we'd ruined Emily's cake and made her cry.

I didn't really want to know, so I avoided him too.

At least, until it was no longer possible. I wasn't paying attention—Leah saw to that—and I didn't realize people were leaving until I was one of the last guests left. I panicked when it finally dawned on me, said goodbye to Emily, and decided to puss out and leave without saying a word to Sam.

However, he seemed to have different ideas, and he caught me just as I was trying to escape down the walk in front of his house.

"Jacob."

I drew in a breath before pausing and turning back.

"Yeah?"

He jogged down the walk to me. He was scowling still. Not a good sign. When I realized that this was sort of intimidating, it pissed me off. We were long past those days when Sam had been the respected elder of the pack. I was alpha now.

Sam waved to a few stragglers as they reached their cars and yelled more farewells and birthday wishes, and then he turned back to me with his I-could-beat-your-ass expression.

"What exactly was that in there?"

It was the one question I couldn't rightly answer.

"I have no idea." I opted for the only justification I had, "She provoked me."

"You fucked her--!" Sam stopped, drew in a loud breath through his nose, and then spoke again in softer, but angrier tones, "You_ fucked _her on my cake!"

"I--"

Was there an excuse for this one? No. He'd seen us doing the deed.

"I did, yeah. I'm sorry. It wasn't something I planned."

I could practically hear Sam's jaw crack. What was this anyway? Why was he sounding more jealous than hurt here? And, I mean, aside from ruining the cake, why was it such a big deal that I'd hooked up with Leah? Yeah, it was bizarre, but it wasn't like they were still together.

"Do you realize what this means?"

I lifted a brow. "No. Not exactly. I haven't figured that part out yet."

I had been asking myself the same thing. Did I want this night, these new feelings and needs, to pan out? Or was this a one-time thing? I didn't believe that Sam was thinking along the exact same lines, but I _did_ believe that it was a question that was going to haunt me for awhile.

"You two are going to have to work hard to conceal this from the pack while we're wolves," Sam snapped.

It was sort of lame, considering all of the things that this could have meant, but it brought up another worry entirely. How was I going to hide this from the pack when it was all that I could think about? Maybe I'd never phase again.

I felt a flicker of annoyance at the suddenly large amount of stress I'd accumulated in one night.

"Look, Sam, I'm sorry about your cake, and about the images that are probably stuck in your head, but you should really--"

"Mind your own fucking business," Leah finished for me as she stepped out of the house.

I stared at her in surprise over Sam's shoulder. Her killer high heels clicked along the pavement toward us. I could feel my heart begin to thump, the lust begin to coil in the pit of my stomach.

_Had_ I imprinted? Surely if I had, I would know.

She stepped around Sam and stopped next to me. Her hand skimmed my arm and fire licked from my elbow to my shoulder.

"This is between Jake and me. I'd say I'm sorry about your cake, but I'm not. Now, if you'll excuse us."

She hooked her arm through mine and began to lead me away.

"See you later, Sam," I called over my shoulder.

Sam didn't reply, and neither of us looked back. Instead, Leah leaned against me as we walked, tilting her head back to look up at me.

"We've really fucked things up, haven't we?"

She didn't sound upset by this, but I couldn't deny the idea that there was some truth to what she asked. We'd fucked up Sam, Sam's birthday cake, our once platonic relationship with each other, and who knew what else. Probably my own brain, for one, considering it wouldn't stop telling my body that Leah Clearwater was actually sort of beautiful, and that I should definitely take advantage of the fact that she seemed to want me.

"You started it," I reminded her.

We reached my Rabbit. Without invitation, Leah opened the door and got in on the passenger's side. I didn't object, but rounded the car and got in on my own side. She was already strapped in by then and looking pretty damned pleased with herself.

"Maybe I did," she said, as I started the car, "but I'm sort of glad I did. I would, sort of, like to start it again too."

She glanced toward me. "You want to finish it?"


	3. Take Another Slice

**Author Notes: **As much as I hate to be Debbie Downer here, don't expect all of my updates to happen this quickly. I had some down time in between the beginning and end of the contest that this was in, so I worked ahead and finished the first couple of chapters, which would be why the first few will crop up rather promptly, because I hate waiting, and I've got to know what you guys think. ;) I'd like to thank everyone for the support so far. This story has been so much fun to write, and I'm so glad to hear when people enjoy it.

* * *

**Leah POV**

Jacob was more well-endowed than I had ever dared to believe. Sure, I'd had fuck-fantasies about the man before, but I'd never really extended the depths of my imagination about him, considering he was usually tied up in pining over his vampire-ized bitch, Bella Cullen. Had I ever made a better choice than I had tonight, at Sam's party?

The answer to that was, "Fuck no!" Why hadn't I provoked Jake sooner? I could have introduced myself to his massive cock years ago. I could have had this mind-blowing, body numbing sex at least a million times by now. Sweet Jesus, could a girl die from too many glorious orgasms?

I needed some more cake. I needed to smear icing all over my sweet spots so that he would lick it off again like he had in the bathroom. I knitted my hands into his hair as we fucked in the cramped space of his car, guiding his mouth to those spots the best that I could. He'd driven down an old dirt road, parked us in between some trees, and had promptly gotten to business.

I was ass-up on my seat. Jake was doubled over me, his back brushing the roof of his tiny ass clown car. I ignored the gear shift as it prodded me in uncomfortable places, and concentrated on Jake only as he clutched my hips and pulled me onto him. My walls expanded to encompass his width as he plunged deeper, hitting all the right places as his hand—which he slid between my legs too—rubbed my clitoris with his thumb.

I thought that I was going to go cross-eyed.

Holy _fuck_, where had Zeus's dick been all my life?

"Jacob!" My head bumped the window as pumped into me.

"Yeah?" he grunted.

"This is so--"

I gasped as he rocked back and pressed into unexplored areas.

"--messed up, but don't stop. Don't ever stop. Let's just—Let's just be fuck buddies for the rest of our lives, okay?"

Jacob's fingers dug into my hips. He ducked forward, scraping my back with his teeth. I moaned, fogging up my window with my breath.

"But we hate each other, Leah. Remember?"

I screamed as he thrust into me hard, knocking my head against the glass again, but not giving a shit about the throb of pain. His hands worked up my sides, cupping my tits. He pinched, he pulled, and he bit my shoulder.

I couldn't move. I was paralyzed by ecstasy.

"Oh yeah," I panted. "I forgot."

---

"You want me to come inside?"

The night had cooled considerably. A breeze was lifting my skirt and freezing my twat like nobody's business. I hadn't bothered to put anything back on but my skirt and top. I'd given Jacob my panties as a token of appreciation. He'd stared at them funny, like he couldn't quite wrap his mind around holding _my_ panties, for a moment before tucking them into his glove box.

Not that he needed a token to remember our night. I was fairly certain that the imprint of my forehead would forever grace his passenger side window.

I thought about flashing him my downstairs as a goodbye present, but I thought I'd finally reached the point, for the night, where provoking him wasn't the smartest idea. My nether regions were tender now, to say the least.

"I said fuck buddies, Jake. Not lovers. Besides, what kind of creeper wants to wake up and see you in the morning?"

He had one hand on his steering wheel and had to duck to see me as I stood outside of his little car. I was starting to like the way he scrunched up his eyebrows, the way he looked so serious and brooding all the time.

What the hell was wrong with me?

"You wouldn't complain."

I smirked. "I'm sure I wouldn't, but tonight has been confusing enough. Night, Jake."

I swung the door shut on any further objections and made sure to sway my ass appropriately as I walked up to my house. The Rabbit's engine idled in my drive until I was inside and shutting the door, and then I heard him slowly backing out. It made me smile.

Little Jacob was feeling as hungry as I was, but he'd been indulged enough tonight, and I hadn't been lying about the confusing part.

Outside of the fantastic sex I had received in one night compared to the sex I'd had in my entire life, I was seriously disturbed by the fact that my sex god had turned out to be Jacob. It wasn't that I hadn't thought he was a sexy guy from the beginning, but actually fucking him? I'd never imagined it happening.

And now it had.

What did that mean? I had no clue. I wasn't entirely positive that I wouldn't wake up in the morning and not feel a thing for Jake. It was unlikely, considering the enjoyment I'd received in one afternoon that I was already eager to repeat, but the _entire_ situation had been unlikely from the start. Having a relationship with him—a real one—was just too difficult to comprehend, and I couldn't say that it was what I wanted either.

Especially since I already sort of had an obligation.

I slid out of my shoes and moved to the living room of my small, one bedroom house. I lifted my cellphone off of the coffee table. Abram had called me almost ten times since I'd left the house. Ironically, most of those calls had been received during sex with Jacob. I wondered if Abram had a sixth sense as I scowled at the text messages that waited in my inbox.

Abram Adams was a bartender in Port Angeles. I'd been seeing him, quietly, for a month now. It was something I hadn't told anyone, and something that I had went through great lengths to keep from my pack. In my opinion, it hadn't been anyone's business, and I'd been desperate to have something private of my own. Not to mention, I hadn't been in a real relationship since Sam, and I had, like anyone would, gotten lonely.

Unfortunately, when I'd entered into my exclusive relationship with Abram, I hadn't expected to get into Jacob's pants any time in the near future, or, really, _ever_. I dialed his number and was trying to figure out why I didn't feel all that guilty about cheating on him as I waited for him to answer.

That was wrong. I _should_ have felt guilty. Abram was a good guy, a fun guy, and, as far as I knew, a faithful one. Yet I had knowingly cheated on him two and a half times tonight without the slightest bit of hesitation. I guessed that I should have mentioned to Abram that I had commitment problems, but it was too late for that now.

Jacob had just been a fun, meaningless fuck. Abram and I were not all that serious yet, either, so it wasn't as if I really expected him not to indulge if the opportunity arose.

Okay, scratch that. I was totally a hypocrite. I _did_ expect him not to indulge, though I just had, more than once. The night only continued to get more confusing the longer I thought about it.

"Leah? Where have you been?"

I glanced at my wall clock. I'd told Abram I'd be home by nine. It was now eleven.

"I got a little carried away." _Oh boy, had I._ "I saw some people I hadn't seen in awhile. We got to talking. Sorry, babe."

Pause. Silence.

"Oh, it's all right. I just had the night off. I wanted to see if you wanted to catch a movie."

I felt a little twitch of guilt at that.

"Why don't you come here?" I offered. "We can rent a movie on the tube and cuddle."

"Really?" This perked him up. "Sure. Yeah, that sounds good. Give me twenty minutes, okay?"

"Sure thing," I said. "See you in a bit."

I hung up the phone.

For the next twenty minutes, I could only think about what a bad idea it was to invite Abram over after I had just cheated on him, after I was still reeling with the revelation of the night, the big surprise: Jacob and I were hot for each other.

When the doorbell rang, I answered it with a smile though. If there was one thing to know about me, it was that I was real talent when it came to acting. Not that I wasn't genuinely happy, in some way, to see Abram. He was my tall, dark, mystery man, though he was a bit on the thin side and had green eyes, which was not usually something I went for.

He stepped in, kissed me.

"Oh," he said. "I see that you've already started getting undressed for me. Too impatient to watch the movie?"

I nearly choked. I still wasn't wearing a bra or underwear. How had I forgotten that?

"Er—yeah. I guess so."

He reached around, cupping my ass, pressing himself provocatively between my thighs. I leaned into him obligingly, but could only wonder what he would think if he knew that I was still wet and warm and molded the perfect size for Jacob's dick.

Abram's hands slid up underneath my skirt, cupping my bare ass. All I could think of was being bent over Sam's kitchen counter, Jacob's fingers digging into my hips as he rode me into the cake. I was amazed to find that I was getting wet again, though it had nothing to do with the way that Abram was getting hard through his pants.

He kissed the corner of my mouth.

"Abram?"

"Mm?"

He nuzzled his face in the crook of my neck. I could feel his boner against the inside of my thigh.

Damn. Damn_ it_. I was getting horny all over again, but it wasn't for my boyfriend. I swallowed, slid my hands up between us to rest on Abram's chest, and gently pushed him away. He was grinning, thinking he was getting somewhere with his girlfriend who'd failed to remember to put panties on before he'd come for a visit. All the while, I was thinking about sneaking out a window while he wasn't watching and making a beeline for Jacob's house.

"I ruined the cake at Sam's birthday party tonight."

_What the fuck?_ The verbal vomit had come out of nowhere.

Abram actually laughed. He had no idea what I was talking about.

"You did? That's great, babe. Though you probably shouldn't expect to be invited back next year," he teased. "Kudos for getting revenge though, huh?"

Abram didn't know anything about the secret details of my life, namely: the fact that I was a werewolf, that half the people in La Push were werewolves. The only thing he knew about my life was that I'd been involved in a messy relationship with Sam Uley, one I had confessed to him on our first date, letting him know, up front, that I wasn't sure if I really _was_ looking for a relationship again.

Of course he would think that I'd messed up Sam's cake out of revenge. He probably thought that I'd thrown it or something. Rational people wouldn't think that I'd stuck my tits in it.

I swallowed. "Jacob helped me."

I had obviously gone fuck-nuts sometime in the last twenty-four hours. What was I doing here? Trying to confess to my boyfriend that I cheated on him? Was I fucking stupid?

Abram reached for me again. His fingers found a grip at my hips.

Why was I trying to tell him? I already knew that I didn't have a conscience. This shouldn't have been a big deal.

"Jacob? That's the—That's the one you told me bosses everyone around, right? The leader, or whatever, in your group of friends."

The alpha of our wolf pack that Abram would never know existed.

I cleared my throat. "Yeah."

"Sounds like a cool guy. Thank him for me next time you see him."

I nearly choked. His hands were venturing down past where my panty line would have been, toward a region that was already wet, and that was wet only because I couldn't stop thinking about Jacob's third arm. An arm like Pop-eye the fucking Sailor Man.

And here he was wanting me to thank Jacob, because he thought the guy had helped me out in a bit of harmless revenge against my ex-boyfriend.

Shit. Now I couldn't stop thinking about it, couldn't stop seeing, again and again, the way Jacob had ducked his head in the bathroom and caught my nipple in his mouth. Black had a magic tongue. The way it had teased the nipple, sucked it, bit it.

Abram's fingers had found their destination. They sunk in, palm up, cupping me.

My first orgasm was fast, because I was already there before Abram found me. He gave a surprised sort of sexy laugh, and then he nudged me back against the wall. I was on my tiptoes, and the fuck if I knew why.

As Abram undid his pants, I closed my eyes and pictured Jacob's gloriously naked body. I pretended to hear his labored breathing in my ear as he slid into me and began to pump, though it was really Abram's breathing, which I was sad to find didn't sound as sexy.

"Did you miss me, baby?" he groaned against my mouth. "I don't think you've ever been this wet before."

_You're fucking telling me!_

---

"_You have to answer for Santino, Carlo. You fingered Sonny for the Barzini people."_

_"Mike, you got it all wrong."_

_"Ah, that little farce you played with my sister. You think that would fool a Corleone?"_

"He's going to fucking kill you, Carlo," I grumbled, half asleep.

Why was Al Pacino—Oh, pardon, _Michael Corleone—_discussing revenge while we were trying to fuck? Didn't he understand that revenge never got you anywhere? That you should fucking enjoy the cake while your girl's tits were planted in it? I arched my hips, begging the youngest Corleone to plow me already, to _get it done_. I was aching for it. I didn't want to hear any more shit about murdering traitors.

I rolled to reach for him and fell right off of my couch. I woke up when I hit the floor, cursing as I banged my knee on the coffee table on the way down, cursing louder when I opened my eyes and realized that I'd been dreaming.

Al Pacino wasn't in my house, in my bedroom, he was on the television in my living room. He was on the screen as my favorite movie, "The Godfather", played on DVD. I vaguely remembered having put it in when Abram and I had finally gotten to the _movie_ in our _movie_ night plans.

God bless him, he loved Al Pacino almost as much as I did.

I sat up, spotting Abram on the loveseat. He was far too tall, and the entire length of his legs hung over the side of the seat. He snoozed peacefully, oblivious to my fall and disappointment. I stared at him as the disorientation of morning dispersed and everything gradually came back to me.

That hadn't been a dream either—that hot, steamy sex I'd had with Jake. I had an ache between my legs like nobody's business to prove it. We'd fucked twice... and a half, if you counted the bathroom, and then I'd gotten home, and I'd fucked Abram while imagining that he was Jake. I was utterly disappointed to find that his dick paled in comparison.

Abram shifted on the couch, a snore rippling past his lips.

I was being absolutely unfair to him. He didn't deserve to be cheated on. At the very least, he didn't deserve to be forced to stand up next to Jake's Gigantor dick and try to prove himself. He was a good guy.

_A good guy, remember, Leah_? And he loved Al Pacino. _He made you popcorn last night too, and he snuggled with you on the couch. _

_That's supposed to impress me?_

Fuck. I had to get out of here. Abram usually slept a good part of the morning away, considering he worked late nights at the bar, so I had maybe an hour or so to myself. I scrambled to my feet and ducked into the bedroom to find something suitable to wear, discarding my skirt and top in the corner of my room where they sat, rumpled and mocking my previous night.

I pulled on sweats and a tank, thinking to go for a jog. A really long jog. One that I might never return from since my life had just become as confusing as hell.

I tiptoed back through the living room and out the front door, running smack into Jacob's broad, sweaty chest.

"Oh, shit!"

I stumbled back, realized who was standing on my front porch, and hurried to shut the door behind me.

"What are you doing here?" I hissed.

I had to tilt my head back to look up at him now that I no longer had the support of my high heels. His brows were knitted together, his lips puckered in agitation. I noticed that his eyes were somewhat darker than usual, perhaps angry, but my attention quickly made the leap to his muscled chest, the happy trail of hair that led down into his shorts.

Was I salivating?

What had Jacob done to me last night? Was his dick made of pussy cocaine?

"I can't stop thinking about last night," he growled, like this was all my fault. "I woke up, and I left my house and ended up here. Did we imprint, Leah? Is that what this is?"

I licked my lips, following the crevices of his abs with my eyes. I wanted to trace them with my fingers.

"Leah?"

I blinked. "What? _Oh_. No! Of course, we didn't. You've heard the others. Imprinting is... It happens the first time you see someone. We just—We just had really great, mind-altering sex is all."

Jacob scowled. He wasn't buying my explanation, and maybe I really wasn't either. It didn't seem like it could be that simple when it had so thoroughly mind-fucked us both into our current state, where we couldn't stop thinking about screwing each other again. At least, I couldn't. I hoped the feeling was mutual.

Damn it. Why hadn't I decided to show up at _his_ house topless?

"Leah, I--"

He broke off, scowling in a direction that allowed him not to look at me.

"What?"

"I... Last night, I didn't—I didn't use protection."

I arched a brow. Seriously?

"I'm on the pill, Jake."

"Oh." He blew out a sigh of relief. "Oh, okay. Good."

I felt irritated. "Is that why you're here? To find out if you knocked me up or not?"

Jake blinked. "What? No. No, I--"

I snorted and rolled my eyes. "Whatever. You can rest easy. Last night was just sex. No strings attached. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get a jog in before it gets much later in the day."

I stepped past him, hurrying down the steps of my porch. How perfect. I was still reeling from last night, already craving round two, and Jacob was only worried about the idea that he'd implanted me with his semen. What a jerk.

Why the hell did he have to be so sexy?

I frowned. Well, at least it was over now, and I could just suck it up and get passed this weird speed bump in my life. If me being prego was all he cared about, I could get back to Abram and his sadly smaller dick.

I was halfway down my driveway when Jacob called after me.

"That wasn't the only reason I came over here! I want—I want a repeat!"

I felt myself grinning, though this was obviously wrong, obviously stupid. I turned back to him anyway, jogging backwards so that I could watch him. His face was all twisted up, looking pained. It was only then that I realized he was suffering from pent up sexual frustration too.

"I'll be at your house tonight at seven!"

* * *

**End Notes: **I know, I know. Now you're probably thinking, "Wtf? What's with this random dude? Why does Abram have to spoil the fun?" Well, along with indulging in some shameless fun with smut, I decided that this fic needs a plot line too, don't you think? ;) Prepare for some mega tension and lots of friction between Jake and Leah. I also have a few other surprises for you readers, which might pop up in the next chapter. Leave a review and tell me what you think. I'm new to the Blackwater fanfiction group, but I'm loving my time here!


	4. Top Ten Places

**Author Notes: **All right, so here's the deal: This is the last chapter that I already had completely done, which means that updates will come only as fast as I can write them from here on out. More to say in the end notes, kiddo. ;)

* * *

Somewhere, in the vast space of the internet, there lurked a list of the ten best places to have sex. I didn't know exactly where the "ride your washer and dryer" idea ranked, but it seemed like a pretty good idea. In an effort not to be wasteful, I gathered up all the dirty clothes on Jake's bedroom floor and dumped them into the washer before I turned it on and spread my legs.

I didn't think about Abram, who had left an hour ago for Port Angeles and his job. I only thought about Jacob, and how freaking amazing it felt to have him glide up into me as my ass vibrated on top of the washer. Whoever made that list was a fucking genius. I wondered if Jacob would be up for trying out the other nine places some time in the near future.

I arched my back, hooking my legs around Jacob's waist. He ducked his head, licking the crevice between my breasts.

"This is so wrong," he murmured, as his mouth hooked to the right, catching my nipple.

I saw stars.

"Yes-s-s-s!" I hissed. "It is. It is! Who the fuck cares?"

What was he doing with his tongue? _Was_ that his tongue now? How could it make me feel like that? Jacob's cock became noticeably slicker as I came. I closed my eyes, rocking with it. Jake growled as he felt the difference, as he slid in deep, deeper. My low moan turned to a scream.

The movement picked up pace. Slow, languid pumps became a frantic hammer. Jacob's fingers dug into my hips and pain skittered up my sides. It was delicious. Wonderful. I was going to die.

I reached helplessly for Jake, but my hands slid harmlessly away from his sweaty, glistening chest. I opened my eyes, watching his face change as his own orgasm grew closer. I could hear us breathing together, over the loud hum of the washer.

I glanced down, between us. I watched as he pulled out and then disappeared inside of me again.

_Jacob was inside of me_.

We came together, simultaneously. He drew me close so that my breasts were flat against his chest. He lifted me off of the washer as he came, holding me suspended. I did the only thing I could and moaned against the crook of his neck.

---

**JPOV**

"We're never going to be able to phase again."

Leah smirked. She seemed completely at home on my bed, utterly confident as she lay naked. The sheets were twined between her legs, hooped around her hips, but her breasts and stomach were bare. It was a sleek, flat plane that rose into two perfectly formed swells. Her hair was fanned out around her head. Some of it tickled my arm as I lay on my side next to her.

"Probably not," she agreed. "I don't want to scar Seth for life."

I rubbed my thumb over her nipple, cupping her breast gingerly. I listened to her breath catch, her eyes becoming a little glassy.

"What about Sam?"

She lifted a brow, turning her head to look at me. Something about the expression in her eyes unsettled me, tightened my stomach in an almost painful way. Was I seeing the reflection of my own hunger in her eyes? I couldn't tell. It was hard to figure anything out when I still couldn't recall how exactly I'd gotten here. It couldn't be an imprint.

That would have happened a long time ago.

So what did that leave me with? Genuine feeling for Leah?

"What about him?" she retorted.

She shifted to reach for the covers around her hips, to pull them up to shield the rest of her body. I knocked her hands away. Something like a challenge flashed through her eyes, but she let her hands obediently fall back to her sides.

"He's pretty pissed."

Leah snorted. "Yeah."

"Does it bother you?"

"Why should it?"

I shrugged the shoulder I wasn't lying on.

"You had a thing for him."

I slid my hand down her stomach to trace soft lines around her belly button. Her hips lifted slightly. I watched them, wondering if it was a request or just a reaction. I let my fingers linger around her belly button regardless, ghosting lines with my fingertips.

"What about Bella?" Leah said instead. "What would you do if she found out?"

My fingers paused for a moment, and then they continued to circle around her soft skin. I shrugged my shoulder again, ignoring the pang in the pit of my stomach. Would that reaction ever go away? Would I always carry this void that wailed a little each time I thought of Bella?

"Why would she care? She has Edward."

"Do _you_ care?"

I didn't like where this conversation was going. I'd only been mildly curious about Sam, and I wasn't willing to allow the topic to shift to Bella, who remained a tender subject after all of these years. "No," I answered, gruffly.

Before Leah could prod—and I knew she damn well would, because she had been born to make people uncomfortable—I slid my hand lower, found her fuzz, and inserted two fingers past her lips. Her breath caught again, but, this time, it was released shakily, toeing the line to becoming a moan. I was up to my knuckles. I could feel the wet and the warmth.

"Jacob," Leah groaned, "I'm seeing someone."

"What?"

My fingers went still inside of her. I pushed up onto my elbow.

"What do you mean you're seeing someone?"

Her eyes were closed, her brows drawn together, and her nose wrinkled.

"I've been seeing someone for a month now."

It was a shitty thing to say to someone who'd just fucked you brainless on several occasions in the past two days. I took a minute to swallow what she was saying, our situation becoming more fucked up than before. Not only had we always been wrong for each other, but we'd somehow managed to hook up while Leah was already with someone else, dirtying the weird sexual relationship we'd started even more than fucking in Sam's birthday cake had.

I should have been pissed, but I was more jealous than anything else.

"Then this is over."

Leah groaned. "What is _this_?"

"Nothing," I told her. "It's over. It was just... sex."

She stiffened at that. "What if I don't want it to just be sex?"

I snorted. "You're in a relationship already, Leah."

She scooted over. I didn't know why I let her, considering I saw it coming, but she kissed me. I let her tongue snake past my lips. I slid my own around it, tasting her back as her hand wrapped around my dick. I moaned into her mouth.

_This was so fucked up_.

Leah had just told me she was seeing someone, that she had been for a month, and I had a fucking hard-on. What the hell was wrong with me? If nothing else, this should have given me reason to cut off this absurd relationship with Leah right now.

Too bad I didn't want to.

"We had sex last night," she told me, panting. "I imagined that he was you the whole time, but it was hard, because he doesn't—His dick isn't as big as yours."

Did I just get harder?

I cursed myself internally as I rolled on top of her, nudging the covers away as she looked up at me, confusion and lust as evident on her face as it was on mine.

"You imagined that he was me?" I repeated.

She nodded, her eyes wide. I urged her legs farther apart with my knees.

"Let me know how the real thing compares."

Her eyes rolled back, her mouth opening wide, as I lifted her hips and plunged inside.

---

"Are you going to dump him?"

Leah lifted her head, propping her chin on my chest as she lay on top of me.

"Are we going to be in a relationship?"

Her dark hair almost hid her eyes. I lifted a hand to push the hair back, behind her ear.

"Wouldn't that be weird?"

Leah sighed. "Then no, I'm not going to dump him."

I snorted. Her logic made no sense. Even if I was wary about being in a relationship, how could she go on with this guy when we'd had sex on numerous occasions? When she'd instigated our first sexual encounter herself?

"Then what? You're just going to fuck me on the side?"

Leah shrugged. "Pretty much."

I was a messed up bastard to find that idea hot. It wasn't hot. It was wrong. But it already made for one fantastic fantasy in my head.

"You're such a bitch," I grumbled, and it made her laugh. "Why do you want to be with him then? If he doesn't make you want to be with him alone?"

_Was_ it wrong? If I could sate her in the one way that he couldn't? Yes. Yes, it _was_. Did I care? Not as much as I should have. I was greedy. I was addicted. I wanted to knock the asshole's teeth out and keep Leah for myself.

_Back it up, Jake_.

I wasn't ready for a relationship. Didn't she understand? I was still trying to put myself back together again after Bella. It was pathetic, yeah, but once I got attached, I was pretty fucking attached. Like right now, I was pretty fucking attached to Leah's body, to the idea of being her fuck buddy, if that was what was necessary.

"I sort of like being in a relationship."

"You do?"

"Yeah."

That was hard to believe. She has always seemed so independent.

"What do you like about him?"

She smiled. "He loves Al Pacino."

I made a face. "_I_ like Al Pacino."

She laughed, dropping her head to rest her forehead against my chest. Her giggles shook the both of us. I felt them particularly well were our waists joined.

"You said I'm a better fuck."

She pressed her lips to my chest.

"Sure, but you don't want to be in a relationship."

"So? How does your relationship even count if you're having me on the side?"

Leah lifted her face to look at me again. It was already edging toward the darker hours of the night, and the pale light of the moon was spilling into my bedroom through the blinds, slanting over Leah's body and face. It sparkled in her eyes as part of her face was cast in shadow.

"I like him. He likes me. We like the same things. It's nice to have someone."

"Must be," I grumbled.

"Stop being a pussy, Jacob," she said. "You want me to change my mind? Look me right in the eye and tell me that you don't still have feelings for Bella Cullen."

I winced and looked away.

"Yeah," she sighed. "Exactly. That's why we don't work together."

"I'm sorry. I just don't think that I'm meant to be with anyone."

Leah tilted her head to the side. "You're with me right now."

"We both know we're not meant for each other."

"No shit?"

I scowled at her.

"What? You think we are?" I asked.

"I didn't say that, but there's something, don't you think? I mean... we're lying together in your bed."

"And we just fucked."

"Yeah," she said, "so that has to mean something, right?"

"That we're sexually attracted to each other?"

"Sure, so let's just take it for what it is: attraction. Nothing more, nothing less. It doesn't need to be analyzed."

I liked the idea of not analyzing this. Something about our relationship scared the shit out of me when I studied it beneath the surface.

"All right, so, we're just going to meet up whenever we feel like having sex and leave it at that? Is that the plan?"

"Yeah. Our secret," Leah said. "We'll just have to work around it the next time we have to phase. This is just between us."

It wasn't the idea of keeping our relationship a secret that annoyed me. It was the fact that it had to stay a secret, because I was going to be Leah's secret fuck buddy while she continued on her relationship with a different man. It made me feel a little cheap.

Did I like feeling cheap? I didn't know yet, but I _did_ like feeling the inside of Leah's pussy, so that had to count for something.

She ran her fingers across my chest, skimming my flesh and circling once around my nipple. Her lips were pursed slightly, maybe a little swollen from the earlier assault of my mouth.

"You want me to take a vow of silence?"

"Fuck you, Black."

I smirked. "All right then, what now?"

Leah turned her head for a moment, checking the clock on my nightstand. I peeked around her, looping one arm around her waist as I shifted to keep her from rolling off of me. It was ten o' clock at night. Leah and I had spent the better part of three hours together. Time had gone by too fast.

"Abram gets off around two in the morning."

"That gives us four hours."

Leah laughed, turning back to me.

"Not tonight it doesn't. I've got to get home."

"All right."

I tried to be nonchalant about this. Wasn't that how people were when it came to affairs? No emotional attachment. Just sex.

"When are we going to...get together again then?" I asked.

Leah rolled off of me, sliding off of the bed to attempt to find her clothes in the dark.

"I'm not sure," she admitted. "I guess whenever it happens."

"Oh..."

She located her shirt and pulled it over her head. I watched as her breasts lifted as her arms did, how they looked warm and alluring in the moonlight. Her nipples were taut. Was she turned on still? I remained on the bed so that I didn't come across as desperate.

She pulled her hair free from the neck of her shirt.

"You ever hear of the top ten places to have sex?"

"No."

Leah grinned. "We just tested one out tonight. Next time, we're going to select another one of the nine left."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You pick the next place," she said. "Let me know when you've decided."

She fastened her shorts around her waist and slid into her sandals before heading for the door.

"Night, Leah."

"Goodnight, Jake."

* * *

**End Notes: **You like the idea of the Top Ten places? It's something I used to read in chainmails when e-mailing people used to be all the rage. ;) Which is why I'm posing this mission to you: Name one of your top ten places where you'd like to see Jake and Leah. Leave 'em in a review with your thoughts on this chapter. I have a little bit of chapters five and six done, so your place might not crop up until around chapter seven, but I want you guys to get involved, and I thought that this would be a fun way to go about it. I'll look through the suggestions and see what I can come up with. Aside from that, I'd like to say thanks very much to all of you Blackwater fans! I'm glad that you're enjoying what I've got going here, and I love to hear from you! If you're interested in seeing the banner for this story, check out the links on my profile. You'll find the link to my blog there where I've posted links to all of my past stories and all of my banners. Also, you can follow me on twitter if you want to know how the next couple of chapters are progressing. Having said that, I'm going to pause here and rec a fic. I always recommend this fic. You like this story? You'll like: _**Becoming Bella Swan **_by **BellaFlan**. Check it out here on . ;) 'Till next time, enjoy your cake!


	5. Can't Have Your Cake and Eat It Too

**JPOV**

I was pretty certain that I could pinpoint the day that my life began to spiral out of control, the day where all I would ever be able to do afterward would be to hold on. I pegged that day as the day that Bella Swan had returned to Forks. With her came the attracted attention of Edward Cullen, the sudden thickening of the vampire population that moved in and out of Forks, and the reawakening of dormant genes that twisted my spine with fire and pain and gave me fleas.

I had lost myself somewhere in between loving and losing Bella. With that loss, more loss of similar weight and texture began to compile in a corner of my soul.

I'd failed Bella. I'd let her marry _him_. I'd let _them_ kill her. I'd watched as she'd given birth to the perfect bronze-haired spawn that looked like an impossibly flawless mixture of both its mother and father. I'd known that there was no going back after that, that Bella was lost from me forever.

I hated being in the same room with her anymore. I hated seeing the cold marble of her skin, the lack of expression in her eyes that were no longer the rich brown they'd once been. I'd missed the blush that had so frequently courted her cheeks in years past. I didn't like who she'd become, how she smelled.

I hated her husband, and her daughter gave me the willies.

Bella Swan was now Bella Cullen, and she lived in a glass house with the rest of the Cullens, and they existed as if in an exhibit, too perfect to blend with the rest of us, too frightening and gross to tolerate for an extended amount of time.

It hurt to be near them, to see Bella every single time I had to wheel and deal with the Cullen's about boundary lines and treaties and other vampire/werewolf bullshit. I was looking at the corpse of the woman I had loved, and it was as painful as attending an actual funeral.

"How have things been going in La Push?"

I shifted on the couch, wishing that I had taken the initiative and made sure that Carlisle wasn't at work when I popped in for a mandatory visit. Since I hadn't, I was stuck in the Cullen's living room alone with Bella while she attempted to entertain me for the twenty minutes left before Carlisle was due back.

I watched her face as she spoke to me, unable to look away, transfixed by the lack of emotion I saw there. A couple of times I had noticed that she seemed not to breathe, sitting completely immobile until it suddenly dawned on her that she was supposed to be acting _human_, and her nostrils would flare as she took in an unnecessary breath.

I wondered how Charlie put up with this horrible act, how he dealt with his daughter being half-dead and his granddaughter being a freak hybrid. I didn't think that I would have been able to have handled it. It was bad enough for me, loving Bella like I had, like I maybe still did in some painfully daunting way.

_This is not Bella_, I continued to tell myself. _Bella is gone. _

It was easier to think of her as dead. It was preferable to noticing the lack of a heartbeat in the room. I could still remember the rhythm of hers. Sometimes I couldn't help but to imagine it. I would listen to my own heart beat and pretend that it was hers.

"Fine," I said. "Nothing out of the ordinary."

Aside from my new sex life with Leah Clearwater, but I sure as hell wasn't going to tell Bella about that. I fidgeted uncomfortably as I thought of it. Stupid to have recalled it at all, at a time like this. Thinking about Leah continued to fluster me, to rile me, to make me think a variety of inappropriate thoughts that would make my pulse throb faster. Now was not the time to start wondering about the next time and place that we would meet.

I couldn't even have that to myself—this new relationship with Leah. Half of her—maybe more than half—belonged to Abram, whoever that panty waste was. I was really getting tired of only having half of a woman—half of her heart, half of her body. Sharing wasn't in my vocabulary.

Still, it was difficult to resist pulling my cellphone out of my pocket, checking my text messages for our next secret meeting. Leah was my escape. There were no awkward pauses between us, no need to fill the silences with anything but the sound of fucking.

"How is Billy?"

"He's doing fine."

"Oh. The rest of your pack?"

"They're good."

Resting my elbows on my knees, I leaned forward, clasping my hands together. I looked down at them, feeling the tension between us, hating it. We had lost touch of each other. We no longer knew how to interact together.

"Mom?"

I stiffened and leaned back against the couch again, wary of the presence of Bella's daughter as she ghosted into the room, gliding like she barely touched the ground. She looked just like Bella, except for her bronze hair, and looking at her was even more troublesome than looking at Bella. The fact that she existed at all was a primary example of how warped my reality had become.

Renesmee paused as she saw me, lingering near the edge of the seat where her mother sat. A few short years, and she was a full grown woman. I didn't understand vampire genetics, but I was fairly certain that they were fucked up.

"What is it, Nessie?"

"I just--" Renesmee's gaze flicked over me, her words trailing away as if she'd forgotten that she had started talking. I stared apprehensively back at her, confused and unsettled by the look in her brown eyes that were too much like her mother's. They took me back to a past that I didn't want to revisit.

"Renesmee," I greeted her, breaking the heavy silence.

She swallowed.

"Nessie," she corrected.

My mouth twitched. "Sorry, _Nessie_."

It wasn't the first time they'd we'd come across each other, and she'd corrected me when I refused to use her dumb pet name. Whatever. If she didn't find it bad enough that she was a hybrid of one mythical creature, she could nickname herself after the Loch Ness monster if she wanted to.

She looked me over one more time, licked her lips, and then turned back to her mother.

"Where's dad?"

I flinched at the mention of Edward but covered it up by rolling my shoulders as if to stretch.

"Hunting with Emmett."

I conjured up a disturbing mental picture of the two vampire brothers scouring the woods for animals. I still didn't understand how Bella found that attractive—that need to feed off of innocent forest creatures. It was only one step above feeding off of humans. The entire feeding concept was disgusting. I'd seen the mess they'd left after their meals.

"Oh."

"Did you need something?"

"No, I—I'll talk to him later. Bye, Jacob."

I looked up. The expression on her face was clearly one of Bella's. She looked flustered, uncertain, a blush tinging her cheeks prettily as her brown eyes watched me. For a moment, I was socked in the gut by the ghost of my past, crippled by how much Renesmee looked like how her mother once had.

The second of weakness also brought with it the realization of sound.

_I could hear Renesmee's heart beating_.

I'd forgotten. She was still part human. She still had a heart beat. It danced like the wicked beat of hummingbird wings. For a moment, my own answered with pathetic need as I opened my mouth and tasted Bella in the air.

"Bye, Nessie."

She swung around and evacuated, climbing the steps to the second floor, disappearing as quickly as she had appeared.

The front door opened, Carlisle stepped into the scene, and the room was heavy with the smell of leech again, strangling the forgotten scent of strawberries.

---

**Leah POV**

_"What are you doing?"_

_"What do you mean, what am I doing? I'm patrolling, dumbass."_

_"That's not what I meant! Do you have any idea what's going through your head right now?"_

_"Well, yes, actually. I'm pretty sure I do. Hot, isn't it?"_

_"What if Seth and the others heard you?"_

_"That's why we scheduled patrol shifts, isn't it, oh wise one? Which brings me to the real question of the afternoon: What the fuck are you doing out here?"_

Sam's tail thumped the ground irritably. He growled, thinking, like a moron, that he could intimidate me. I would kick his ass right then and there. He was lucky I didn't take a chunk out of him for good measure anyway, considering he was snooping around inside of my head when I was supposed to be the only one on duty.

_"I'm making sure that you have everything under control."_

I snorted, and it came out like a bark. _"You're questioning my capability to keep this shit under my thumb? What the hell do you really want, Sam?" _

I groaned and rolled my eyes as Sam shifted back, becoming human and naked and all up in my face about it. I started to look away, but the first words out of Sam's stupid human mouth had me phasing back pretty quick too.

"You're being very immature and naïve and, frankly, your behavior with Jacob is disgusting. What are the two of you thinking? This isn't healthy for the pack."

The growl that escaped my lips was completely human as I stood on two legs and swung at Sam. My knuckles cracked against his jaw like the sound of a tree splintering and falling in the forest. There was a lot of force behind the swing as I shifted my bare feet in the dirt and threw my body weight into it, following through as Sam's head snapped backward.

"Listen here, you son of a bitch," I snarled, "my relationship with Jacob is none of your damn business! Mention it again, and I'll kick you so hard in the dick that you'll never have kids."

I spun on my heel and stomped off as Sam staggered back a few steps, lifting his hands automatically to his face.

_Fucking asshole! When the hell did he assume that he had any right? _

As I reached the edge of the forest bordering my house, I started to wish that I hadn't stormed off like that, that I had stayed back there and beat up on him a little bit more. As it was, I was carrying my anger home, and I had no one to release it on.

It wasn't smart. I was seeing red and breathing fire, and I wanted to snap Sam's meddling neck. After all of these years, he was going to act jealous now? He was going to act like he cared _now_? He should have thought about that before he imprinted on Emily.

"Not a chance in hell, bitch," I hissed to myself.

I shoved past a low-hanging branch, and it whipped back to whack my bare back as I passed. I snarled at the vindictive tree, but stomped past and stepped into my yard.

"Leah?"

I looked up toward the sound of the strangled voice and saw Abram standing near my front porch. His mouth hung nearly to his feet, his eyes bulging from his head. I came to a dead stop, my own eyes widening.

_Whoops._

"Er—Abram." Should I even attempt to cover myself? "Uh, hey there. What are you doing here?"

He made a choking noise. I must have looked something like Tarzan's wife—wild, naked, covered it twigs and leaves and dirt. I couldn't imagine how disturbing the sight of me must have been to him. Considering he had absolutely no idea why I'd have been in the woods, let alone naked, I couldn't imagine that it made much sense to him.

He had to think that I was looney tunes.

"W-What are you—Why are you _naked_, Leah?"

_I'm really a wood nymph, Abram. I like to run around naked. I like the feel of my tits dangling free!_

"I—"

What the fuck could I possibly say that wouldn't sound insane? I wracked my brain, knowing that I was running out of time to make even an attempt at a believable excuse. I spread my hands, offering him a somewhat sheepish, almost crazed smile.

"I should have told you. I like to—I like to do this sort of thing sometimes. It's very—uh—cleansing."

Abram blinked. His brows drew up his forehead until they were nearly to his hairline.

"Are you--?" He paused, his gaze dragging from my feet to my face. "Are you a _nudist_?"

I almost laughed. A nudist? Possibly the farthest thing from what I really was, but who was I to go and burst Abram's delusional bubble about what did and didn't exist in his world? Better a nudist than a werewolf.

"Umm... yeah. I'm a closet nudist."

"A closet nudist?"

"Yeah." I licked my lips, pushing some of my tangled hair behind my ears. "I usually don't have an audience. It's sort of a secret."

I was hoping that it was at least somewhat believable when I noticed the boner that was beginning to press against Abram's pants. I stared at it in disbelief. Seriously? He was buying this?

He was being _turned on_ by this?

I looked down at myself. Would I have believed it? Fuck no, but, whatever. It wasn't as if I was going to complain about being let off of the hook so easily. I could feel his eyes on me, devouring every inch of my bare skin. My nipples grew taut.

_Uh-oh_.

"Was there something you needed?"

I peeked at him from underneath my lashes. Twisted as this situation was, a girl couldn't help but blush when a guy stared like that, like he might just strut over and lick her up.

"I'm--" Abram cleared his throat. "I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to be heading out of town for the weekend. I—uh—found a few job prospects that I wanted to look into."

"Oh. Really?"

Abram had confessed that he had higher hopes of transferring to a different bar in a different state where the night life and the pay climbed up in a higher direction than Port Angeles when we'd first started dating. I hadn't known that he'd been actively pursuing any of these prospects, however.

"Yeah."

We stared at each other. Abram took a decisive step forward, and I held up my hands.

"No. No, not right now. I can't... It ruins the cleansing process, you know?"

Abram stopped, looking put-out. "Oh. Okay."

I didn't want to be touched at the moment. After my less than pleasant encounter with Sam, I was pretty much done with the male species for the day. I needed to think. In order to think, I needed all hands off.

"When are you leaving?"

"Two days from now."

"All right. Do you want to come over tomorrow? I just... I have some things to do today."

"Sure. Yeah. I work, but I can come over tomorrow night."

"Okay. Well, I'll—ah—see you tomorrow then."

Abram lingered. "Right. Well, see you then."

"Bye."

I lifted a hand, curling my fingers in a feeble wave as Abram reluctantly turned and left. I blew out an anxious breath, and, before anyone else could catch me in my birthday suit, I darted for the house.

I needed to think. I needed space.

What was I going to do about Sam and Abram and, most of all, Jacob?

I scrambled into my house, stumbling into the living room. Everything was quiet. The warm air of the still room brushed against me. I felt silly standing there naked. I felt—slightly—liberated. My skin tingled, my nipples tightening again.

I was really fucking crazy.

I picked up my cell where I'd dropped it on the couch. I texted Jacob.

_My place. 2Morrow. Early._

I stared at the background for my cell. It was a lame-ass picture of a daisy. I wasn't much for customizing my technology. The text alert chimed, an envelope appearing on the screen simultaneously.

_Sure. Ill b there. _

I flipped my phone closed and pressed it to the crevice between my breasts. I needed to think, but I was starting to feel like I couldn't think clearly at all until I got a hit of my pussy cocaine in the form of Jacob Black.

There was no other way to explain why I'd ditched my boyfriend to invite Jacob to my place.

---

**JPOV**

Things had gone a bit South at the Cullen's, and I was hurting in a bad way. Our weekly exchange of information had gone smoothly. Nothing was out of the ordinary in Forks or La Push, none of the big, macho vampires the Cullen's were afraid of had so much as sniffed in our direction, and the Cullen's were still completely agreeable about keeping the peace. Carlisle was as hospitable and kind as ever, and, aside from the smell of rot and the general unease I felt from sitting around a bunch of corpses, everything had gone off without a hitch.

The problem was that I had stared at Renesmee Cullen and seen some forgotten glimpse of Bella, that I had, directly after, smelled the scent of strawberries, heard the beat of Renesmee's heart. During my conversation with Carlisle, I hadn't been able to keep from sending Bella secretive glances, stirred into recalling all of those memories I strove to forget.

Leah's text message was something like a blessing in disguise.

My phone had buzzed as Carlisle and I were wrapping up our conversation.

"Sorry. Just a second," I excused myself and turned away.

Flipping open my phone, I had spotted the little envelope with Leah's name underneath it.

_My place. 2Morrow. Early._

I'd managed to turn myself into a booty call, but fuck if I didn't need that escape right now. I had to get Bella out of my system any way possible.

_Sure. Ill b there._

I kept my back turned to Carlisle as I thumbed the keys. A mixed feeling of lust and distress curled in the pit of my stomach. I wanted Leah, but being near Bella always made me see what was lacking in my life. Was it right to continue this relationship when it would never lead anywhere? I was setting myself up for disappointment, and I knew it. The text alert chimed again.

_Is ur dick made of pussy cocaine?_

I stared at the screen for a second before typing back.

_Wtf is wrong w/ u?_

This entire ordeal with Leah was going to be the death of me, but there was something about her that was drawing me in now after a lifetime of mutual disdain. Maybe it was the fact that everything about her seemed to be a challenge, or maybe it was just that she knew how to piss me off in just the right way to get what she wanted. The alert buzzed again.

_I had a taste of ur pussy cocaine? C U 2morrow._

I tucked my phone back into my pocket, shaking my head as I turned back to Carlisle. I caught a glimpse of Bella rising from her seat, staring at me. Carlisle was standing too. He took my hand in a mandatory shake, and I tolerated the lifeless cold of his palm.

"I'll see you next week," I said, as I said every week.

I was even more happy that I would be seeing Leah tomorrow. I needed to dive mindlessly into something every once in awhile to wash away the bitter taste of befriending vampires.

* * *

**End Notes: **I know, I know. Sam and Bella. What are we going to do with them, right? ;) But you can't have a great story without conflict, and though the smut is fun, conflict always creates some delicious tension. I'd like to say thanks for the great suggestions I've gotten for my request for the top ten places. I plan to incorporate some element of each suggestion that I've gotten so far, and I hope that those of you that suggested these ideas will enjoy them. Expect to start seeing these places turn up from Chapter 7 and on through the rest of the story. ;) Reviews have been amazing as well, and I appreciate each and every one of you for taking the time to read and write out your thoughts. Even if I don't always get a chance to respond, know that Jake has a major boner for you guys. ;P If you want to continue to suggest places, feel free!


	6. Mark Wahlberg's Purple Willy

**Author Notes:** I've gotten some really great suggestions for the top ten places. You'll see one of them introduced in the next chapter, and the rest will be dispersed somewhere through the rest of the story. ;) Thanks so much for these suggestions, and thanks even more for all of the amazing reviews and Blackwater support. I've been totally surprised and thrilled to see all of the positivity for my fic, and I'm glad that you guys are enjoying it as much as I am writing it. Anyway, please enjoy my infatuation with Mark Wahlberg and the twisted ideas that thinking about him gave me for this chapter.

* * *

"Where's Abram?"

"Work."

Leah's house was slightly smaller than mine and near the border of the reservation, furthest away from Forks. It was the first time I'd ever been inside. I had once imagined a masculine, slightly frightening décor for the space between its walls. I'd been surprised when I'd arrived an hour earlier to find that I had been wrong. Leah's house was decorated in pastels. It was sort of sexy.

"He coming back tonight?"

"Mmm... later. We should make the best of what time we have left, huh?"

I sat up and edged toward the side of the bed as Leah reached for me. For the first time in several days, my dick had nothing to say to her. It hung limply between my legs, further dejected by the idea that Leah continued to see Abram, by the idea that I was looking more and more like a cheap fuck. Once upon a time, I would have enjoyed the idea.

I really had no explanation as to why the hell I was starting to dislike the idea when it had seemed like a blessing in disguise before. Maybe it had been seeing Bella and the rest of the Cullen's, thinking of a life I hadn't fought hard enough to have.

"Something wrong, Black?"

I listened to Leah sitting up, sliding across the covers to me. Her breasts pressed into my back. Her arm slid around my waist, her hand cupping my balls, her thumb stroking my unresponsive cock.

I didn't want to tell her that we'd reversed roles, and I was now the female in the relationship nursing my feelings of rejection, which were dampening the possibility of an erection.

"We've already done it twice."

Yup. I definitely sounded like a chick.

"Can't get it up?"

I scowled. "I'm tired."

Next I'd be using tampons and bleeding monthly.

She sighed against my back. I felt her warm breath on my skin. I wished that she'd let go of my balls, that she'd take her tits off my back, and that I could get up and go home now and renew my vows of being a hermit.

I imagined the sound of every male in the known universe mocking me. I couldn't leave now without looking like a pussy.

"Open that drawer right there," Leah told me.

She released me in order to point at her nightstand. I leaned over and did as she asked. I choked a little at the contents that I found.

"What's that?" I snorted.

Nestled next to a bottle of lube and some furry, pink handcuffs was a considerably-sized purple dildo. Not as big as mine, but still ambitiously larger than average.

"It's a dildo," Leah said, dryly, "but I like to call him Mark Wahlberg."

"Mark Wahlberg? I thought you had a hard-on for Al Pacino?"

"Oh, I _do_ love Al Pacino, but I also have a healthy appreciation for Mark, and his youthful, tighter body."

I snorted, and Leah smacked my arm.

"Shut up and get it out. Do you know how to use one?"

I shot her a look over my shoulder.

"Yeah, I think I can figure it out," I told her, "but I'm not fucking you with it if you're going to imagine that I'm Mark Wahlberg. It's insulting."

Leah pouted a little. "Ah, all right. I suppose I'll make due with your ugly mug."

She flopped back obediently, spreading her legs without urging. I picked up the purple dick, grimacing at the feel of it in my hand. It was wrong in so many ways. Leah was going to fucking owe me for this. I turned toward her, holding the penis out uncertainly, and she wiggled her toes against my leg and grinned at me.

"This is hot, but could you, you know, at least talk like him a little to help ease the burn of looking at your face? I mean, it's bad enough that I can't picture his, and this is going to mess up all my masturbation habits with this dildo, not being able to shout, '_Marky Mark!_' as I come."

I slapped the rubber willy against the inside of her thigh, making her squeal.

"Fuck you, Leah."

I parted her lips with its purple tip and shoved the length of it inside of her. She squealed again, but this time, it ended in a moan. Maybe this wouldn't be as awkward and disturbing as I'd thought it would be.

"Fuck me, Mark, you sexy piece of ass!"

Maybe I was wrong.

I growled. "Are you trying to provoke me?"

Leah hissed out a breath. "Hell yes!"

It was sort of like jacking off—pumping that fake penis into Leah's pussy. I watched the length of it disappear past her lips, urging it toward her core where I wondered if its purple tip pressed the places that she loved the most. The way she arched, pressing up to the balls of her feet, I had a feeling it might have reached that point. I wanted to discover it myself.

"Leah?"

"Yeah?"

"You like this?"

"_Oh_ yeah."

I flexed, thrusting the dildo inside of her. Her breath caught as she bared her teeth, her hair spilling over the side of her mattress as she gasped toward the ceiling. She was so slick now. The side of my pointer finger and thumb had grown wet where they circled the base of the dildo. Its flat bottom poked out of the other side of my fist.

"I went to the Cullen's place today."

It wasn't the time to discuss it, but I had to tell someone. I had to talk about it. I would never reach my own climax without this release.

Leah's hands clutched the bed sheets. I watched her toes curl into the mattress.

"Yeah? How'd that go, Jake?"

I continued to push, pull, push, and pull out with the replica of some man's penis of lesser endowment. It was strange like this. Leah and I seemed to be able to communicate only when we were fucking. We fought when we stood alone, but talked like old friends as long as we were both naked and engaging in some sort of sexual act. She moaned, and my blood heated.

"Shitty. Everything's perfect in the world of vampires."

"W-Why shitty t-then?"

I thrust hard, bringing her to the balls of her feet again.

"Bella's there."

Leah groaned and growled. "You love her still."

"No," I denied automatically. "No. I just... I hate attending her funeral over and over again."

"Mm..."

Leah bucked against my hand. Her eyes had closed.

"I saw Sam."

"You did? Why didn't you tell me?"

Leah worked herself against the dildo. I had stopped thrusting at the mention of Sam. How could I fuck Leah even secondhand when my friend's name was brought up? I still felt mildly guilty for his birthday party fiasco. I felt sort of like a traitor, though Sam had no rightful claim to Leah.  
"I was pissed. You were at the Cullen's. He just showed up to insult me, and to show me his unimpressive wiener."

I choked. "_What_?"

Leah groaned in annoyance, still working herself, though I had a feeling that her orgasm—once close—was escaping her now. I could feel it in the angry way she was forcing herself against the purple dick.

"He snuck up on me during patrol, and then the dumb fuck phased back right in front of me. I saw his dong for about a second or two. You jealous?"

Disgustingly so, yes, I fucking was.

"No."

"Then let's stop talking about him. Nothing ruins an orgasm like Sam Uley."

"But--"

"Look, Jacob." Leah stopped grinding her hips, opened her eyes, and stared straight at me. "It's just you and me right now. Let's get this straight: when you and I are together Sam and Bella don't exist. Got it?"

I frowned. "What about Abram?"

Leah frowned back. "Just fuck me, Jacob. I don't want to think about anything right now except inserting piece A into slot B."

I pulled the purple dick out and tossed it to the floor. It bounced and rolled toward her door.

"Yeah? Can I substitute piece A?"

Leah turned her head to watch the dildo dance away across the floor. A small smile touched her lips as she looked back at me. She shrugged.

"Sure. I don't see the harm in that."

I rolled on top of her, sliding into her in one languid move. Leah's hands found my shoulders, her nails digging in automatically.

"Shit. Nothing beats the feel of a _real_ dick."

---

"I can't cook for shit."

"I can tell."

Leah flipped me off with one hand and shoved a spatula under the eggs she was frying with the other. Turning them over, Leah exposed where the yellow had darkened from being cooked a little too long.

"Fuckin' eggs," Leah grumbled.

I covered my laugh with a cough and drummed my fingers on her kitchen table, watching as she cursed and maneuvered the eggs from frying pan to plate. I wondered how pissed she'd be if I declined to eat my share.

As if she could hear what I was thinking, she decisively shoved my plate across the table to me, sat down with her own, and glared at me. I was apprehensive as I stared down at my browned eggs, but I picked up my fork and shoveled a small portion into my mouth.

They weren't all that bad.

Leah snorted, took up her fork, and began eating her own share.

"These taste like junk."

"Yeah," I agreed.

Leah laughed around her next mouthful and kicked me underneath the table. I smirked at her as her toes connected with my bare leg, paused, and then skimmed upward to the bottom of my shorts. She curled her toes around the hem and tugged twice.

"So, seeing Bella's like going to her funeral?"

My next forkful missed my mouth, and a few pieces of egg slid down my chest and disappeared underneath the table. It wasn't exactly where I had expected the conversation to turn. After she'd shut the talk down earlier, I'd figured that she hadn't wanted to discuss the topic further.

I cleared my throat and shifted on the wooden chair.

"Yeah. It is."

"Hmm," Leah murmured. "Seeing Sam makes me want to _be_ at my own funeral."

"You really hate him that much?"

Leah looked up. It was edging toward the later hours of the afternoon, and the summer sun, that had peeked through the usually dominant sheet of gray clouds that called this area their home, had gone orange and warm as it receded down the sky. It pooled in through the window, washing over the stove where the skillet remained, caked with the bits of scrambled eggs that Leah had burned.

"Look at it this way, Jake: How would you have felt if you and Bella had been in love, if you guys had a firmly established relationship that you both thought would last forever, and one day, Edward Cullen had shown up, and Bella had decided that she loved him instead," Leah posed the scenario bitterly. "Bella straight up tells you that she no longer loves you, and you're left high and dry with only the promises that she made you that don't count for shit anymore."

I swallowed. "I let Bella _die_."

Leah frowned. "I let Sam _live_."

"She should have married me. We should have had a family together."

"I should have been the one that threw that birthday party for Sam. I should have been the one under his arm."

"Bella never cared about me. We can't even talk to each other anymore."

"Sam is just jealous enough of you and me to make it hurt."

Leah and I stared at each other across the table, both our eggs forgotten, both of our eggs growing cold. I saw a vast sense of loneliness and abandonment in Leah's eyes. I felt the mirror of those emotions in my own soul. We were two broken people afraid to ever love anyone again.

"We're both pathetic, aren't we?" I grumbled.

"You're the pathetic one," Leah snorted. "I punched Sam in the face yesterday. What'd you do? I bet you made puppy dog eyes at Bella."

"Are you jealous?"

"Fuck no."

We continued to stare at each other. The kitchen had grown warm with the orange light. I felt a connection between the two of us that might have existed all along without either of us noticing, but it probably wasn't strong enough to fix the past that had hurt us. It was only there to tease.

"Jake?"

"Yeah?"

Leah smiled, her eyes twinkling. "I think I'm in love with you."

I scowled. "No, you're not."

She laughed. "I know. Nice thought though, huh?"

I shook my head. "Yeah. Sure."

"Come on," Leah prodded. "Lighten up."

I rolled my eyes. Leah had a twisted sense of humor. Though she was probably right. Maybe everything would have been easier if we'd fallen in love with each other rather than with who we had. We were obviously the outcasts. We weren't anyone's love at first sight or knight in shining armor. I frowned at the thought, annoyed by the heavy conversation at hand. That wasn't what I wanted. I wanted freedom.

"Leah?"

"Yeah?"

"I've picked our next place. Meet me at First Beach when Abram leaves for the weekend."


	7. It's a Recreational Sport

**Author Notes: **First of all, thanks to mumax1, wolvescaneatme, and klarsen117 for their suggestions for a top ten place. I incorporated their picks together in this chapter, and I hope it lives up to what they expected! Second of all, thanks, as always, for the reviews. I've been pleasantly surprised at the reception of this story, and I'm so glad that you guys picked up on it and are enjoying the ride!

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* * *

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**LPOV**

"What is this?"

"It's called a _tent_."

"Smart ass."

I crouched down to peer through the mesh net door. Two sleeping bags had been unrolled in its interior.

"Are we staying here tonight?" I asked.

"By definition, that would be the purpose of a_ tent_."

I stood up, turned, and glared at Jacob.

"No shit, Sherlock."

He had already turned his back to me, his attention toward the campfire he had constructed at the same unknown hour before he'd brought me here in which he'd set up the tent. He was a sneaky twat, I'd give him that. Planning ahead? Bonus points from me. We'd see if he could rack up anymore before the night was over, because I was not completely convinced that a tent could actually be a top ten place.

I stepped around him as he took to lighting our campfire. It wasn't like either of us could freeze to death, but it was a nice gesture and sort of cozy. I watched his face as the fire flickered to life, crackling as it licked at the hunks of wood that Jake had added. It danced across his face, casting shadows across his forehead. His mouth was puckered slightly in concentration.

It might have been romantic, if I'd have had the capacity to feel romance. I'd never had anyone plan a trip for me like this. He was going the right way to get into my pants.

"Sit down."

He gestured to a log he'd dragged next to the fire.

"Why?"

Weren't we going to fuck now? I was itching for the release after spending the last two days with Abram before his trip. The man simply couldn't satisfy me like Jacob could. I watched him, feeling hungry as he pushed to his feet and stared back at me.

"Because, Leah, we are going to make s'mores."

"S'mores?"

"Yeah, now sit the fuck down."

Deflated, I dropped myself onto the log, playing with the hem of the right leg of my jogging pants. Satisfied that I'd succumbed to his wishes, Jacob began piecing together out s'mores kit, taking two sticks he already had carved, jamming a few marshmallows onto them, and then rummaging in a cooler he'd brought along for what I supposed would be chocolate and graham crackers.

What an ass! Couldn't he see that I was dying here? My legs folded together, touching at the knees, evidently disappointed. I should have worn something sexier, but how the hell should I have known that I was going to have to seduce him tonight? Every other time, we'd pretty much fallen into it.

I kicked at sand, wondering what his deal was tonight. I hadn't asked for anything special, but Jacob had planned an entire camping trip. I pouted, listening to the waves rolling in against the sand a few feet down the beach. The night was chilly, but the ocean looked best in the dark as it crested and crashed in shadows, hissing secrets.

Having rounded up his supplies, Jacob came over to sit down next to me, wedging his self on one end of the log and thrusting a stick into my hand. Two marshmallows had been speared at its jaggedly pointed tip.

"Jake."

"Yeah?"

"I'm not Bella."

He stiffened, turning his head toward me.

"What do you mean? I know you're not Bella. Do you think I'm that stupid?"

I shrugged. "I just meant that you don't have to do this sort of thing for me. I'm content getting to the point."

Jacob scowled. "Yeah? Well, I'm not."

Heaviness weighed in the pit of my stomach as I stared at Jacob. He ignored me and lowered his stick into the fire. The flames forked around his marshmallows, tasted it, and then lit them both up like torches.

"What do you mean?"

It was Jacob's turn to shrug. He pulled his marshmallows out of the fire and blew them out.

"Does it hurt to actually hang out a little too? Don't you ever just not want to have sex?"

I glanced toward the crotch of his pants. "No. Not really. You have a magnificent dick. I'm addicted to it."

Jacob growled. "Just shut up and eat your marshmallows, Leah."

I dipped my own stick into the flames as Jacob prepared his first s'more. I thought about our conversation the last time we'd seen each other, wondering how many times Bella was going to fuck something up for me. That had to be what this was about. He was ruining our fun game of meaningless sex by comparing me to that whiny bitch that obviously didn't know a real man's penis from a hunk of rock. I watched my marshmallows light up, scowling into the flames.

"Look, I know you loved her, and you had to give her these things, because she needed gestures like this, but I don't need them."

I lifted my stick and huffed out a breath to blow out the flame. Jacob was trying to attach strings to this relationship, and I knew that it would only mean bad news for the both of us. We weren't good for each other on a committed level. We could barely get along.

"_I _need them."

My hand stopped an inch from plucking my first marshmallow off my stick. I wanted to close my eyes and wish myself back to the point before I'd left my house. I was never going to let Jake pick a top ten again. He didn't understand the concept.

"No," I sighed. "What you need is closure. You need to shut that door of your life and get the hell over it."

"Yeah? How am I supposed to get that?"

Jacob had already eaten his first s'more. He poked his next two mallows onto his stick with more force than necessary. I could practically hear them screaming in pain. I winced away from them.

"I don't know yet. I'll figure that out and get back to you."

I pinched my burnt marshmallow between my thumb and pointer finger, sliding the gooey mess off the stick. Jake offered me two graham crackers and a brick of chocolate, but I shook my head.

"I like the marshmallow fine by itself."

To prove this, I maneuvered the entire thing into my mouth, alternatively chewing and licking the corners of my mouth clean. The burnt skin of the mallow was crunchy and just a few degrees short of tasty, but the core was slimy and sweet and slid right down my throat. I hadn't had a roasted marshmallow since I'd been a kid. It was a little more enjoyable than I'd thought it would be.

I lifted my hand to lick my fingers clean, but Jake caught my wrist. I glanced over at him in question, and I watched my fingers disappear into his mouth. I felt the warm press of his tongue and the scrape of his teeth as he slowly drew my fingers out, catching at the knuckles were he lingered and rolled his tongue around the tips of my fingers.

I might have went cross-eyed as my cocaine-deprived pussy lit up like the fourth of July. I sucked in a breath, the torture from his mouth unbearable.

"I hate seeing you pout," he told me, "but you're going to ruin my perfectly orchestrated plans."

His voice was husky, his eyes rimmed black. Despite my inability to form a coherent thought, I attempted to push my unwilling lips into a pout, but they continued to gape as Jake released my hand and slid his own down the top of my pants.

_Hell yes. It was about time!_

"You're good at this," I moaned, as his fingers grazed my lips.

"You want to know what else I'm good at?"

He inserted two fingers to the knuckles, and I rocked back on my seat. His face ducked toward my neck where he breathed against my throat and lit my skin on fire.

"Yes."

"Cliff-diving."

I opened my eyes. "Cliff-diving?"

"Yeah, I'm way better than you. Watch me. I'll prove it."

Wait. _No_.

His hand disappeared, leaving my pussy sad and dejected as he pushed to his feet and raced away in the dark.

"You asshole!" I yelled. "That was such a bitch move!"

I had no choice but to follow. Jacob didn't turn back as he sprinted for the cliffs, and I knew that it would be up to me to get what I wanted. He'd obviously gone fucking crazy tonight. How could he resist an open invitation for sex in favor of cliff-diving?

Sometimes I really wondered if he was a man at all.

If I hadn't seen and felt his penis for myself, I would have almost wagered that Bella had cut it off and kept it as a keepsake.

* * *

_Son of a bitch!_

Sprinting, I neared the edge of the cliff, could see the ocean spanning out in front of me. The waves were dark, cresting in beautiful, white peeks that slammed into the rocks with violence, hissing as salt water sprayed the air.

Fighting not to close my eyes in the fearful, enthralling anticipation of the moment my feet would leave the ground, I spotted Jacob standing to the side watching me. I was going to kill him for provoking me into this, but I was going to get him naked one way or the other.

Our bet had been that, if I jumped the farthest, he dropped his pants. If he jumped the farthest, I had some more s'mores and succumbed to what seemed painfully close to a date.

He grinned as I streaked past and let out a whoop as I sprung from the edge of the cliff, curling my toes momentarily into the rocks one last time before I shoved off, arched, threw my arms above my head, and plummeted into the icy, angry ocean.

I squealed with the shock of the water, sucking some of that water into my mouth.

I kicked to the surface, bobbed under when a wave crashed over my head, and then reappeared and rode the next wave with a little more tact. I looked up in time to see Jake springing from the edge of the cliff, arching into a perfect swan dive. He soared over my head—fuckin' show off—and disappeared beneath the surf. I climbed the next wave and shook back a chill, riding over it toward Jacob as he resurfaced.

I really fucking hated to lose, especially with so much at stake.

"Whatever. You win! Let's just get out of here!" I shouted to him. "I'm freezing my tits off!"

"Stop being a pussy," he called back. "I thought you liked cliff-diving."

He wasn't close enough to slap. It was a shame.

"Well, usually, it's_ fun_, but I wouldn't call it sexy."

The next wave that came at us was a little too high to avoid completely, and the top of the wave rolled right over my face. I spit water, coughed. Point proven. Once I'd wiped salt from my eyes, I opened them to see Jacob right in front of me.

"I didn't say anything about being sexy. I just wanted to prove that I'm a better cliff-diver than you."

I scowled. "Well, congratulations."

"Thanks. Now that that's settled, I'd like my award."

I opened my mouth to ask him what the hell he was talking about, but Jacob ducked underwater and disappeared in the darkness. I looked around, kicking to stay afloat as the next wave rolled over me.

"Where did you go?" I hissed. "This getting less sexy by the moment, Black!"

I waited to him resurface, but he didn't. It was just the moon, a few stars, and me. I didn't know what he was getting at here, but I wasn't game for hide-and-seek. Annoyed, I decided to swim back to shore and wait for him to stop being such a dumbass.

Something snagged my pants as I started to swim away, and I released a small gasp of surprise. For some reason, the first word that popped into my head was _shark_, but that was ridiculous. Especially since I didn't know of any shark with fingers and hands that could pull my pants down like this one was doing.

"Jake!" I hissed.

But my pants were already off. With one quick tug, he'd pulled my head momentarily underneath the surface and had removed my pants, underwear and all. I sucked in a breath. Warm-blooded or not, there was something to be said for the chill of the ocean tickling right past your bare twat.

The sea creature's hands returned again, this time going for my shirt. I attempted to shove him off, annoyed by his scheme, but Jake was rather strong, and so, _up_ went my shirt, which he pulled over my head as he finally resurfaced.

"What the fuck are you doing?"I demanded, wrapping my arms around my chest.

I choked as Jake twirled my shirt over his head and then flung it away from us. I watched it soar through the night sky and disappear completely. I couldn't even hear where it landed for the roar of the waves. Jacob was grinning wildly, and I could see the laughter on his face.

"What the hell? I don't have anymore clothes, Jacob! You better start swimming, because I want those back!"

Jacob slid closer to me, easily pressing against me as the next wave urged him into me. His arm went around me. I felt something hard prod the inside of my thigh. My eyes widened, and I looked down between us, but there was nothing to see but the black water.

He pinched his fingers behind my back and undid my bra. It was the one article of clothing I willingly allowed him to remove.

"I've got clothes for you in the tent."

"Oh."

I didn't really care about the clothes now that I was starting to catch on to Jacob's intentions. I watched his mouth edge toward mine. I tasted salt as they rubbed against my lips, slick from the ocean. He parted my lips with his tongue, which sought a haven deeper in my mouth, gliding over my own tongue. I slowly unwrapped my arms from around my chest and slid them around Jacob's neck.

He took my hips and eased himself inside of me. I closed my eyes, tilted my head back, and moaned.

"Leah?"

"Mm?"

"We're going to the beach now."

"Lead away, captain."

I circled my legs around his waist, unwilling to allow his dick the chance to escape. Jacob didn't seem to mind, and we made our way back to the beach easily enough. The closer we got to shore, Jacob would pause a second or two and arch into me. The movement was pure torture. By the time we got onto the sand, I was ready to stop playing around.

Apparently, so was Jake.

I hit the sand on my back, the air expelling from my lungs as Jacob knelt above me and began to pump. I looked up at the stars and arched my back, hoping to guide Jacob deeper. The man had magical fucking powers.

And to think that I'd thought that this entire trip would be a waste.

**JPOV**

There was something I was growing more and more unsure of as the night progressed. The tent, the campfire, the cliff-diving: I'd planned all of it just for fun, for some foolish form of a vacation to share with Leah while Abram was out of town. I'd devised the idea as a joke of sorts, an amusing little getaway where I felt that maybe we could escape the rest of the world for awhile.

The problem was that I'd seen the anxiety in Leah's eyes as she considered the gravity of a mini-vacation with me when we'd only spent afternoons together, and I hadn't felt any of it myself. What did that mean?

I frowned, tracing circles around Leah's erect nipple. She purred and shifted against the slick material of the sleeping back I'd rolled out for her. Her hair was still damp, but it was curling as it dried. The world outside of the tent was dark. I'd put out the fire after our latest fuck on the beach, and we'd retired to the tent. Leah had declined the clothes I'd packed for her, and she'd sprawled out naked next to me.

I was beginning to wonder if Leah's sex drive would kill me. My dick was exhausted, my abs burned, and my legs felt like they might be stuck bent at the knee forever. I couldn't close my eyes without picturing Leah's upturned face, eyes closed, mouth slack, little moans escaping past her teeth.

Her naked visage was burned into my retina, the sound of her orgasms was a looping track inside of my head.

I plucked her nipple and watched her brows furrow, her hips lift an inch off the ground.

It should have been flattering that she wanted me that much, that she didn't tire of the endless, meaningless sex. Maybe I would have been if Abram hadn't been in the picture, if I could have stopped picturing Bella's marble, lifeless body perched in the Cullen's living room, broadcasting my failure like a megaphone pressed directly against my ear.

I didn't want to lose like that again. I _wouldn't_ lose like that again.

I pulled my hand back and curled it against my chest, laying on my side, watching Leah in the dark.

"Why'd you stop?" Leah pouted.

"I'm tired. I'm going to sleep."

There was silence in the tent. I wondered if Leah suspected me.

"Jake?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to be in a relationship?"

I didn't answer. How could I? It was a loaded question that I was still trying to make sense of in my head. There was an undeniable part of me that tired of just being fuck buddies, but another part that found safety in the no-strings-attached aspect of the term.

And then there was Bella and Sam and Abram.

And a past neither of us had completely overcome.

"There's still Bella," Leah answered for me.

"There's Abram for you," I reminded her, "and Sam."

Leah turned her head to look at me. "There is no _Sam_ for me, but why shouldn't there still be Abram, if there's Bella for you?"

I shrugged. I didn't know the answer to that question. I wanted to make Bella not matter.

"You're holding a grudge that you can't let go, because Bella has Edward. She doesn't feel anything for leaving you behind. It hurts. I understand. Sam didn't feel anything about leaving me behind either. You just need revenge, I think. Mine was that cake. It was pretty damn sweet too."

"Yeah? What's my revenge?"

Leah sighed. "I don't know. Goodnight, Jake."

She rolled onto her opposite side, dragging the sleeping bag over her naked body. I wanted to turn to her, to tell her that we could forget Sam and Bella and Abram, and we could have what we really wanted.

But I was starting to think that we both wanted two different things.

"Goodnight, Leah."


	8. Revenge Car

**LPOV**

Tent sex? Well, there was something to be said for it—especially a weekend of it—though it might have been even better if my tent partner hadn't started acting seven different kinds of strange and needy. What was happening to my sex god? He was supposed to have a rock-hard dick, a permanent arousal that only the mythic Greeks were capable of, but I'd had to coax that snake out of its basket each time I'd wanted a fun toss between the sleeping bags.

My belief that Bella Swan had removed, jarred, and shelved Jake's dick had been renewed. I couldn't have him—not completely—when he was still stuck on that walking corpse that had never deserved him, and how exactly did I go about cutting those strings? I couldn't offer more to Jacob than what he really wanted, and, no matter what delusional thoughts he might have formed in that thick skull of his, he didn't really _want _me. He was just afraid of losing something like he had lost Bella.

If only I'd never provoked him at Sam's birthday. If only I hadn't stuck my tits in that cake. If only Jacob hadn't been a tall, muscular hunk of raw fucking power with a face so fucking delicious I wanted to lick at it like icing. I could touch his pecs all day long.

Sweet Jesus, I had to get him over Bella Cullen. I had to revive his ill-nourished sex drive, remind it what it was missing out on. It had peeked through at me for a painfully short period of time and then ducked its head back underwater, too timid to grow some balls.

I wanted to visit with it again, especially since it'd occurred to me that I'd never sucked Jacob's cock before, which I realized as Abram had been thrusting his into my mouth the night before. Mine and Jacob's last night in the tent had been almost bittersweet.

The sex had felt forced as Jacob reached for something that I couldn't give him.

"So, I'll be going out of town again at the end of this week."

"Huh?"

I turned to look at Abram, tearing my attention away from the scenery whizzing past his car. The blur of greens and browns and began to look like two people fucking as they slid past each other, and it had taken my thoughts to Jacob as Abram was giving me a ride home after spending the night at his house. He'd arrived home two days ago, optimistic about the job interview, and he'd invited me over to celebrate.

It was torture that the man I wasn't as interested in fucking could get a boner in two seconds flat that kept returning all night long.

"I'm going out of town again at the end of this week," Abram repeated. "I have another job prospect to look into. I was wondering if you wanted to go with me."

My automatic answer was _no_. Without thought or pause, I almost blurted it out, though I would have had no logical excuse to back it up. Even as I clenched my teeth around it, I still wanted to say it. _No_, I didn't want to go out of town. _No_, I didn't want to leave Jacob for a whole weekend. _No,_ I did not want to shack up in some cheap hotel room and fuck Abram all night, faking half of my orgasms and reaching the others only because I was thinking about Jacob.

What the fuck was _wrong_ with me? Jacob's crazy-ass mood-swings were starting to rub off on me.

"I'll have to see," I hedged. "I need to talk to my mom. It seems like my family had something going on this weekend."

Big fat lie, but it was better than telling the truth, right?

"All right." Abram smiled. "Just let me know, okay?"

"Sure."

His car rolled to a stop in my driveway. I reached for the handle but froze on my seat.

The sun was out, the sky clear. The air was even slightly warm. There was nothing to obscure my vision, but I still thought that I might be hallucinating. That, or Jacob was a fucking moron and actually standing on my front porch when I'd specifically told him I would be with Abram until at least five this evening, and it was still only three.

"Who's that?" Abram asked.

I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry. "It's Jacob."

"Oh yeah? The guy that helped you stick it to Sam at that party?"

"Yeah," I breathed, "that'd be him."

Abram actually smiled and waved through the windshield. I felt my face heat as Jake stared back, lifting a hand to wave in return. He even sort of smile a little, but it didn't cover up the look on his face. There was a lot stirring underneath that serious expression.

I knew that I was in trouble.

"You guys hanging out tonight? Doing some of your group stuff?"

_Werewolf_ stuff? If only it was that simple anymore. I'd completely forgotten about our _group stuff_. I hadn't phased since the day I punched Sam in the face and hadn't had much time to concern myself with pack duties. There was too much shit on my mind, and I wasn't scheduled to take my turn patrolling until the next week.

"Yeah. We are."

"Well, have fun. I'll see you the day after tomorrow." He paused, grinned. "Unless you want to surprise me while I'm working my shift tomorrow night. I think I could get you a free drink."

I couldn't take my eyes off Jacob. He was very imposing with his arms folded across his chest like that.

"Er—yeah, maybe, Abe. I'll see you then, okay? I've got to hurry. The others are probably waiting for us."

"Sure thing. Bye, Leah."

I scooted out of his car and shut the door, hesitated next to it for a moment, and then started walking up the drive toward Jake. He waited for me on the porch, and I moved slowly as I waited, listening to Abram's car backing out, shifting gears, and heading off down the road.

"What are you doing here?" I hissed.

Jacob was looking over my head, watching Abram drive away.

"He looks like a douche."

I climbed onto the porch. "He's not a douche. What are you doing here, Jake?"

Abram's car must have disappeared around the bend at that point, because Jacob looked down at me after a second's hesitation.

"I'm not allowed to come to your house?" he asked, dryly.

"You're allowed to come to my house_ when Abram's not in town_," I corrected.

This pissed him off. I watched him scowl.

"So I don't exist when _Abram's in town_? That's how it works?"

"No, that's not how it works. You exist. Abram _knows_ you exist."

Jacob wasn't impressed. I could see the anger gathering in his eyes and darkening his brow. He looked taller, broader, scarier like this. I wondered if he was working himself into a phase. I wondered if I would have to phase too, wondered who else was currently in wolf form, and how many members of our pack would quickly find out that Jacob and I were sleeping together.

"He fucking waved at me. Doesn't he know that I could snap his arm like a twig?"

I felt my own annoyance growing.

"I'm sure some part of his brain has registered that, Jake," I hissed, "but Abram isn't aware of any reason why you would want to. He doesn't know about us, remember? That's why you're not supposed to be here on my porch!"

I took a regretful step back as Jake's face tinged red. I hadn't been watching my fucking boundaries. I was egging Jacob toward a phase. Damn it.

"Jake..?"

He threw up his hands. "Damn it, Leah! I exist! I'm more real than that asshole! Why don't you admit it?"  
Jacob stepped forward, catching my wrists angrily as I threw my hands up as if to shield myself. He jerked me forward by them, and I all but fell into his massive chest. His hands went to my face, into my hair, fingers curling into the strands. He pulled, making my roots strain against my scalp. I gave a gasp of surprise, letting my head fall back without a choice.

Jacob's mouth was on mine, pressing so hard that it hurt. His tongue pushed past my teeth, skimming over the top of mine, dancing with it, twining, exploring. I could barely breathe, but I held on to Jacob's arms, arched against his hips from the way he was pulling my hair.

What the hell was happening? He'd never kissed me like this.

He growled, caught my bottom lip and sucked it into his mouth where his teeth teased it. A volcano had erupted in my panties, but the feelings spreading from my twat, through my stomach, and up my spine were a lot more dangerous and confusing than lust.

I couldn't get away from him. He was curling into my system, drugging me, asking things from me that I didn't have or want to give, so I wedged my hands in between us, planted them firmly against his chest, and shoved him away.

It was like disentangling a knot.

"Jake... Jake! Stop!"

He stumbled back, but his eyes were still hooded with dark emotion.

"What?" he snapped. "Why?"

My legs were shaking. I took a breath and shoved my hair away from my face, straightened my wrinkled clothes, and winched as the material of my Capri pants rubbed between my legs. I waved my hands as Jacob tried to step toward me again, not knowing what would happen if he touched me after a kiss like that.

"I—I told you." I was grasping at straws to defend myself.

"What?" Jacob growled. "I haven't gotten revenge yet?"

"Y-Yeah. You haven't put her behind you yet."

Jacob snarled. "You want to see revenge? Watch me. If that's what it takes, then you're about to get your wish."

He snagged my wrist, turned, and started hauling me toward the driveway where he'd parked his Rabbit in the grass.

"W-Where are we going?"

"I'm going to plant your tits in someone's cake again."

He stopped, swung open his car door so hard I thought it would snap off the hinges.

I choked. "W-What?"

He rolled his eyes. "Just get in."

Jacob shoved me toward the door. I barely ducked in time to miss cracking my head against the frame of the midget car. I practically had to fall on my ass to sit down in the passenger's seat. The car was so low it was impossible to be graceful in. Jacob slammed the door on me just as I got my right leg in.

I was currently too freaked out by his behavior to scowl or hiss at him, so I huddled against the door as he rounded the trunk and climbed in on his side.

I played Quiet Mouse as he tore through town, revving his Rabbit up toward speeds I didn't know if was capable of. As the speedometer rose, the car began to shake a little, rattling in warning.

_Oh my God, we're going to have a high speed come-apart for fucking real_!

I said every curse word I'd ever learned and clutched my seat belt like the pathetic excuse that it was for a safety device.

I knew that we were headed for the Cullen's even before we got to Forks, before we turned down the long, winding lane that led through the woods toward their house. I didn't know what the hell he planned to do when we got there, but I suddenly felt a little sorry for the miserable excuse of vampire jizz that was Edward Cullen.

Jacob stopped the car just before we rounded the last curve that would have brought the Cullen house into view. He cut the engine and swung out of the car. I hurried to follow him as he stomped up the gravel drive.

Edward's Volvo sat in the driveway, along with a Hummer and a BMW, neither of which I knew the owner of.

Shit! That meant Edward and at least two other leeches were home, _right_?

Why had I provoked Jacob? What a bad fucking mistake!

I started prepping myself for the possibility of a vampire throw-down and almost completely missed the fact that Jacob stopped in the driveway rather than continuing on up to the house. I paused and looked up at the many windows as Jacob hook to his left and headed to the cars. I didn't see any vampires peeking out at us, but surely they would catch scent of us if we hung around too long.

"Jake," I hissed. "Jake, what are you doing?"

He had gone straight for Edward's Volvo. Fortunately, the Hummer was sitting just so that it hid it from the view of the house. The BMW was parked just ahead of the Hummer and gave an added layer of cover. I hurried over to him, ducking behind the massive tank of a vehicle.

I watched him lift an arm. He swung it forward, and smacked the mirror off of the left side of Edward's car. Like, literally, _smacked_ the little oval of a mirror right off its post. It looked like a head that had met with a chopping block, bouncing away from its body over the gravel. I choked as I watched it roll.

I cast a glance toward the Cullen house, but I couldn't see it anymore for the Hummer.

"What the fuck did you do that for?" I demanded, hurrying over to assess the damage.

Sam's ruined birthday cake might have cost ten dollars. Fucking up Edward's Volvo was another matter entirely. We were supposed to be keeping peace with the leeches, and I was fairly certain that this was not the way to go about it.

Jacob turned to me. He looked from my face, to the absent mirror, and then back again.

"You're right. It doesn't have the finesse like at Sam's birthday party. Let's fix that, shall we?"

My eyes bulged. "No. No, let's not—"

Too late. Jacob caught me around the waist, lifted me, and laid me out across the roof of Edward Cullen's shiny Volvo. My shirt rode up, and it was cold against my bare back, colder against my bare ass as Jacob stripped off my pants. I made a feeble grab for them, but he'd already tossed them and started undoing his own pants.

"Jacob!"

I slapped my hands over the crotch of my pink polka dot panties in a weak attempt to guard them, but as soon as Jacob worked his pants free, I was sidetracked by the sight of his massive erection peeking out of the hole of his boxers.

Where had that fucking stiffy been the last week of my life?

I ogled it hungrily, almost forgetting that I was half-naked on Edward Cullen's car, that their house was only a few feet away with all of its windows obtrusive windows. I licked my lips and reached for it.

_Hello, Mr. Johnson, my vag would like a taste!_

Jacob took my legs and pulled me down towards him. My underwear rode up my ass into an uncomfortable thong as I slid toward him, but Jacob graciously alleviated the pressure by removing them altogether. He spread my legs, unsheathed his anaconda, and plunged into me. I could feel the hood dent in underneath me with a warning _pop_. It seemed to gratify Jacob, because he then began to really hammer in. I would have gone to my toes if I could have found the footing, but I writhed helplessly on top of the car, panted, and tried not to scream Jacob's name too loudly.

His hips jack-hammered me, driving in until there wasn't any room left. I could hear his dick sliding in and out, the sucking sound growing louder each time I came. How many times had I came? I didn't know. I was edging toward that realm of deliriousness that Jacob always drove me to, where the real world was hard to decipher when it was coated in one orgasm after another.

His hands grabbed for my tits, clamping over the top of my shirt, holding onto them like leverage. The rough grip hurt almost as much as it felt good. I liked this feeling of being used, of being craved.

I was a horrible bitch.

But it was worth it when Jacob reached his climax, diving into me one last time where he would stay, matted against me, until he ran dry. He folded into me, his massive chest blanketing mine, moving me as he panted heavily.

I hooked my legs around his waist.

"Jacob?"

He breathed out against my neck.

"Yeah, Leah?"

"Congratulations, young padiwan. Jedi master soon you shall be."

Jacob snorted. "Let's get the fuck out of here."

He started to pull away, and I was the one that hesitated.

"But..."

"But what?"

"We haven't gotten caught yet."

Jacob unwound my legs and stepped away, pulling his pants up from his ankles.

"It's probably better that we don't in this situation. This probably wasn't the best idea."

I wondered why he was still grinning then.

"Are you afraid this will mess up werewolf-vampire relations?"

Jacob laughed. "To say the least."

I slid off of Edward's somewhat dented Volvo, found my pants, and pulled them on.

"Let's get out of here then."

I glanced at the house as we hurried back the way we'd come, but the windows were still empty. That was fortunate. In hindsight, being caught in this act would have most likely been worse than when we'd been caught by Sam. There was all that mumbo jumbo about peace and war to be worried about in this scenario.

Once we were safely tucked back into his car, I felt relieved. I would probably do a little dance once I was alone back at my place to celebrate the release of some serious, pent up sexual tension, but, for now, I simply sagged against his seat and enjoyed the warm throb of my hoo-hah.

"That was some seriously classic revenge," I decided. "I wonder if they'll be able to guess what happened to Edward's shiny Volvo."

"I don't know," Jacob answered, "and I don't care. I got my revenge."

"You sure did," I purred.

"You know what that means?"

"What?"

"I've put Bella behind me. You about done with Abram?"

My sexual buzz plummeted to the floor. I'd forgotten about what I'd said, about how all of my excuses had been based on the idea that Jacob wasn't over Bella.

"All we did was fuck on a car, Jake. It was fun, but it doesn't mean that you're over her."

That was the truth, wasn't it? Just because we'd fucked on the car didn't mean anything. I could still be the shield that Jacob was trying to hide himself behind. I couldn't be second best to anyone if I chose to be with him. He had to understand that. I couldn't commit myself.

I'd forgotten how to.

"Why are you afraid of me?"

I looked away from him. "I'm dating Abram, Jacob. You know that. I told you that right up front."

"But you're still fucking me. That means something, Leah. I think that means more than just calling someone your boyfriend."

I closed my eyes. "Don't, Jacob. Don't ruin this by attaching strings. Let's just... Let's just go, okay? We need to get out of their driveway before someone turns up. I don't want to talk about this right now. I like things the way they are."

Jacob started the car. "You can't avoid this forever. Whatever this is, you started it at Sam's birthday party, and now I can't ignore it, so you're going to have to figure out a way to deal with it."

"Don't."

"Fucking is fine, Leah, but I'm going to kiss you again, and the next time that I do, it's going to come with a choice. I want something here, and I'm going to figure out what it is."

**Edward POV**

I stared at the damage done to my Volvo in disbelief. I'd been gone hunting with my family no longer than three hours, but it had been long enough for someone or something to inflict significant damage to my car. I'd found the side mirror several feet down the driveway and had, directly after, further inspected the damage and been sickened to see the sunken pit that was now the hood of my car.

I couldn't explain what might have caused the damage, nor could I make sense of the peculiar scent of dog that surrounded the area. It only occurred to me for a second to consider the werewolves, but I shook away that reasoning immediately. I was certain that, in some indirect way, the treaty between us included personal property.

But I continued to stare at my Volvo in disbelief and confusion. The dent felt like a wound in my own body.

It wasn't as if I couldn't afford to get it fixed, but I was dumbfounded still, more upset that I could not discover what had done this and why. It must have been a big animal, a confused, bewildered animal that had jumped and down several times on the hood for some reason unknown to me.

Emmett strode up to me, surveyed the scene, and snickered.

"Dude. Eddie, it looks like someone fucking _raped_ your ride!"

Yes. Yes it sort of _did_.

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**Author Notes: **Many, many thanks to BellaFlan who suggested this top ten place which would be Edward's Volvo. I couldn't have thought of a better venue for revenge! You're welcome for the nice mental image you'll receive the next time you see Edward and his shiny Volvo in the movies, and you think about Leah and Jacob and cake. ;) Thanks for reading, leave your thoughts in the form of a review, and know that I love each of you in a very special way for your kick-ass reviews! 3 Blackwater fans are the best!


	9. Maybe I'll Be Bulletproof

**LPOV**

People that believed that they'd once been kissed brainless—into that euphoria where nothing existed except that man that had made love all over your mouth until your brain turned to mashed potatoes—were morons.

No one could be kissed like that, where it tingled straight down to your toes and everything went numb but alive all at once. Those kisses were mythological creatures that pranced around near Mount Olympus where the gods played with lightning bolts. They were as real as Danny Devito's chubby little goat man character on _Hercules._

Well, fuck me if I wasn't that pork of a little goat man, playing my flute and getting my rocks off as Jacob rubbed my horns like the dirty boy that he was.

There was something seriously wrong with my brain, and I was going to blame that on getting kissed brainless—_kissed fucking brainless_—by Jacob on my own front porch. Things hadn't been right upstairs since that kiss. Even slick, sweaty sex on top of Edward's Volvo hadn't been able to drown out that little voice in my head that demanded to know what the hell had happened.

_Why_, it demanded, _was my heart sending all these crazy signals through my body, beating faster and louder and throbbing in strange ways that almost hurt as I thought of Jacob? _

And what would happen when he kissed me again? Like he had promised that he would? Would I wind up in the loony bin from distress to the heart?

I could see myself in a loony bin, drooling all down the front of my crazy person pajamas, drawing pictures of Jake's dick on every inch of the white walls that caged me. When the other crazies screamed about spiders and clowns, I'd be screaming out Jacob's name, humping the air like his cock was a real presence that followed me around.

_Where the fuck did my brain just go there?_

I shook my head, skidding to a stop at the end of my driveway. I stood for a minute, hands on my hips, sweat pouring down my body, creating the ever-embarrassing sweaty "V" between my tits. I tried to regulate my breathing, drawing in a few deep breaths and blowing them out toward the sky as I tilted my head upwards.

For the first time in a week, my pulse was jackhammering from something other than the anticipation of a good roll in the sheets, or the sleeping bag, or the Volvo. I'd spent the morning jogging to clear my head.

Abram was in Port Angeles, Jake was spending the day with his dad, and I was doing my best to avoid everyone like the plague. I had several messages on my answering machine from my mom, wondering where the hell I'd been the past week or so, but I'd deleted them with only a small flicker of guilt. I couldn't deal with her or anyone else until I was absolutely positive I wasn't about to spin off my rocker.

Not to mention, it wasn't exactly easy to pay my mom a visit anymore. Charlie Swan spent a great deal of his time at her house, and it was awkward running into the man who had spawned Bella Cullen and had once been my dad's best friend. I didn't like to wonder if maybe Charlie had had the hots for my mom even before my dad kicked the bucket. They had fallen into each other so easily, it'd been hard not to be suspicious, though even considering it made me sick.

I ran the back of my hand across my forehead and flung sweat toward the ground.

It was hot today. The sun was out, the only clouds in the sky were white, and there wasn't much of a breeze to work with. I wondered if Jake had taken his dad fishing like he had mentioned that he might. I wondered what he'd look like out on the little fishing boat, pole in hand, shirt discarded.

I wondered what it would be like to fuck him in that boat.

Which was completely working against my decision to sort out our relationship before I took another roll with Jacob. He was searching for something that I didn't know if I had or wanted to give. I understood his need to have something solid. I'd once felt that I'd wanted the same thing. I wasn't so sure anymore.

Things weren't ever as solid as they seemed.

I started walking up my drive. My ponytail brushed my shoulders as it swung while I walked, smearing the sweat, and I decided to go in, get out of my sports bra and shorts, and take a long shower. It was a remedy to stress I had often scoffed at, but I was willing to try anything at the moment. Both of the men in my life were getting pushier, and I needed a break, a chance to unwind and think it over.

Jake wanted to be in a relationship, and Abram wanted to be in a more serious relationship. He wanted me to go on that little trip with him out of town. He continued to push the idea at me as the weekend drew closer, and I was running out of excuses. I was starting to feel like the answer to that question would define our relationship and end or begin mine with Jacob.

I should have stayed single. I should have spent my whole life as a hermit, living off of my hatred for Sam. Everything had been easier then, when I'd concentrated all of my energy on making him miserable.

"Leah?"

I stopped short a few feet from my porch, cast a glance skyward, and wondered, _Oh why the hell now?_

"Leah?"

I could hear Sam jogging to catch up with me. I could hear his shoes crunching over the gravel. I'd become very familiar with the sound of his gait, the way it seemed to take so long for one foot to fall after the other with his long strides. I cringed at the sound now.

His hand caught my elbow, and he turned me around. I wrenched my arm out of his grasp the second I was looking at him.

"Did you forget what I said about kicking you in the dick the next time I saw you?"

"This isn't about that," he said. "Emily sent me."

Even better.

Maybe on some level I'd forgiven my cousin for what had happened, but I still couldn't quite stomach being around her or hearing her name or thinking that she had a favor to ask of me. She was lucky that I even tolerated being in the same room as her, luckier that I hadn't socked her right in the mouth the moment she went starry eyed over Sam.

"Why?"

Sam scowled, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his shorts, looking away from me.

"She wants to throw you a birthday party."

I nearly died on the spot. Laughter rippled upward, and I snorted.

"Are you fucking serious?"

"Sadly."

I stared at his face, trying to decide if he was jerking my chain or if he was actually telling the truth. Why the hell would Emily throw me a birthday party? Especially since I'd nearly ruined the last one she'd thrown?

"My birthday is months away."

"She's still trying to make things right between you two."

Now, I was frowning. My walls went up when Emily tried to encroach on my territory, scouting out the best way to get back in good terms with me. Well, I had news for her: that would never happen.

"Is this some kind of joke?"

"Unfortunately, no."

"Are you planning on getting back at me?"

Sam blinked, looked at me. His scowl mingled with the confusion of his brows drawing together and upward.

"What?"

I studied him, thought of our history, of all the things between us that he'd shit on and ran away from. I'd once thought he was exceedingly brave, leading the pack before the day that Jake had succumbed to his rightful alpha genes, but now I only saw a coward. A spineless, bitter moron.

"No. You wouldn't have the balls to fuck her on _my_ cake."

Sam looked like I'd taken a swat at his dick. His face edged toward a darker color, tinged with red. I'd elbowed his pride in the ribs. I wished that I'd aimed lower, that I could really drive it home that he was less than a man to me anymore.

_He_ was the fool that had imprinted.

"You think so?"

His words were a jumble of growls that resonated from deep inside his chest. I'd pissed him off good and thoroughly. I frowned at him, far from intimidated by his anger. I had plenty of my own to match, and I sort of wished he'd give me the excuse to give him a good, swift kick to the balls. I wanted to knock them right up to his throat.

Sam, though, just wasn't worth the effort anymore.

"Tell Emily to shove the birthday party up her ass. I'm not interested."

I turned away from him, jogged up my front porch, and escaped inside of my house. I decided that it was better than giving him the satisfaction of a physical reaction again, letting him know how much he really got underneath my skin.

I stopped halfway down my front hall when I realized that I hadn't heard the door shut.

_Shit_.

I turned directly into Sam, who hadn't been much more than an inch away from me. He took up a considerable amount of the hallway, and it unnerved me to see him towering over me like that, anger all over his face. I took a cowardly step back, but Sam wouldn't allow me the distance.

"Don't you ever think about us anymore?"

My throat went dry, and I could feel my heart pressing against my ribcage.

_What?_ Was he serious? Was this some kind of joke? Where the hell had reality just gone? Out the window? Who was this guy, and where was Sam?

His face was too close.

_Oh shit_, his face was too close.

"No," I breathed, "I fucking hate you."

His mouth was on mine, and I was dying, or something very close to it. I felt his hands on the sides of my face, tasted the familiar warmth of his tongue sliding past my lips. A thousand little warning bells were screaming inside of my skull, but I was falling somewhere into the past, and I was becoming that girl I had been once, that one that I no longer knew so well.

I was back before vampires and werewolves. I was back living the love that I had lost.

I felt my heart squeeze, felt the weakness I now so despised. I wondered what the hell I was doing, holding onto him, kissing him back. My life was already confusing enough, and I was now trespassing somewhere that I had sworn never to go again.

I felt my back press against the wall, felt Sam pressing against me on the other side. I remember the lean definition of his body, the way he strained into me as we kissed, how his body would from almost an "S" as his hips pressed into mine, and he tried to draw me closer.

I thought of Jacob, of Abram, of _Emily_.

"Get off of me," I hissed against his mouth.

I shoved him, fury thrusting through my veins so that Sam stumbled back from the strength of my push. I could feel the way my mouth was swollen from his kiss, the way it made me feel dirty, but I didn't swing at him like I wanted to. I sagged against the wall.

"What the _hell_ was that?" I demanded. "Why did you do that? What about Emily? What about your imprint?"

Sam's eyes were dark and defensive. He stood in the middle of the hallway, but didn't move to reach for me again or move away.

"You think I can't feel anything outside of the imprint?"

I glared at him. "Why now, Sam?"

My chest was hurting. The pain felt like a hand constricting around my lungs and heart. It seemed like I had stepped into a fantasy world momentarily, and I felt unsure of what would happen next, what I should do next.

"You make me so angry, Leah. You provoke me."

I'd heard that one before.  
"This is about Jacob and me, isn't it? You're jealous."

"No."

I didn't believe his denial for a second. It was written all over his face. His feelings for me had been swallowed whole by his imprint for Emily, but the shadows of what had once been lingered on so that he could still feel jealousy to know that I was moving on. He didn't want me, but he didn't want anyone else to have me. He didn't want to have to sit on the sidelines and watch like I had been forced to watch him and Emily.

"Get out. Don't ever touch me again."

Sam hesitated. He took up too much of the hallway. I felt small and repressed and powerless. I wanted him out of the house, out of my system. I never wanted to see him again. I never wanted to remember what it was like to kiss him again.

I'd rather live my entire life alone than to succumb to that weakness again.

"Get out of here, Sam," I repeated.

He blew out a breath. I could feel it wash over my face, but I refused to look at him. I stared at his stomach instead, feeling angry and weak at the same time. He was the only one that could make me be that weak, foolish person again. I hated him for it.

He seemed to be on the verge of saying something when he finally decided to turn and leave. I didn't look up. I listened to the door close after him. It was hard to breathe, but I blew out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding, and I slowly lowered myself to the floor.

I sat with my back pressed against the wall, staring vacantly at the wallpaper of the opposite wall.

I lifted a hand to my mouth and realized that it was shaking.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, FUCK!

What the hell had happened to the world? When did it become my favorite pastime to have sex with Jacob? When had Sam decided it was necessary to kiss me? Why had I decided to commit to a relationship with Abram?

Why did I suddenly feel like the biggest moron on the planet?

I jolted when my cellphone rang from the depths of my pocket. I listened to the opening lyrics of _Bulletproof, _the song by La Roux that I had chosen as my ringtone for Jacob.

I closed my hand around the shape of it through my pants and hit the silence button.

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**Author Notes:** Yeah, don't hate me. xD I swear, there's a point behind this. Plot, people, remember? Plot! Leave a review and don't tell me that you hate me! ;) Please?


	10. Make it Work

**Author's Note: **Apologies for the short chapter. It's the last two week of classes for me, and I've got finals to worry about. This chapter is like a stepping stone anyway, but I wanted to get it out there for you guys to read. ;) Sorry it took me some time with this chapter. The next will be longer and better, okay? I hope you enjoy it. Definitely leave me a review and tell me your thoughts!

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**JPOV**

"What do you mean you're leaving for the week?"

"Abram invited me to go on a trip with him to look for a new job."

Damn it. I'd pushed Leah too hard and too fast. Now she was going to balk against my attempts and try to run and hide somewhere, with Abram, no less, who I could have snapped fucking toothpick if I'd wanted to. I should have. Why hadn't I when I had the chance? He wasn't meant for Leah. I was. Didn't she see that yet? All of our so-called meaningless sex had been anything but. Maybe it had started out like that, but it'd grown into something else. I knew that she'd felt the same thing when I'd kissed her. I could tell by the way that she looked at me.

She wasn't fooling anyone but herself.

"And you're going?"

I gritted my teeth, resting my forehead against the wall in my bedroom. Leah hadn't answered my calls all day, and had only called me back the minute I'd decided to give up and go to bed.

"Yes."

"Leah."

"Yeah, Black?"

"Come over."

Heavy silence. I hated heavy silence. Why couldn't she just talk to me? Running away wasn't going to solve anything. We both knew that. Was I that horrible that she couldn't even pretend to see herself in a relationship with me? I had more to offer than my dick. I was beginning to wonder if she even knew that.

"I can't."

"You aren't even going to give me a chance?"

"I just need some time to think."

"When you have sex with Abram, you think about me. Do you think about him when you're having having sex with me?"

"Sex doesn't mean anything."

"No, you won't _let_ it mean anything. Come over. Let's talk about this."

"Jacob, I'm with Abram. I committed to this, and I can't—I can't be in a relationship with you, or even think about it, until I figure this out," Leah said. "I'll see you in a week, Jacob."

I hissed out a breath as the dial tone hummed in my ear. This wasn't right. Why was Leah running from me? Just because of one kiss? One kiss had freaked her out this much?

She had started this whole thing. After Sam's birthday party, she'd asked me to finish it, and I wasn't going to let her escape so easily. Over the course of a few weeks, I'd decided on what I wanted, and now I was going to make Leah see that she wanted it too.

As soon as she got back from her stupid little trip, she was going to realize who it was that she really wanted to be with.

**LPOV**

I had to be an idiot.

As Abram checked us into our hotel for the night, I realized that I had made a mistake. I looked at the guy that had once seemed ridiculously attractive to me, and I felt nothing at all. I wanted to say that Sam had sucked the life out of me with that fucking soul-stealing kiss, but it wouldn't have been fair to Jacob.

Sam wasn't shit to me anymore. I'd had a little relapse when he'd surprised me with that kiss, but I wasn't that girl anymore. That part of me that had loved Sam had long since been forgotten underneath the person I'd become after learning to cope with his imprint. Yeah, sometimes it still pissed me off, but Sam wasn't the reason that I was regretting my decision to go with Abram.

Jacob scared the hell out of me on a daily basis. He was strong and sexy and full of needs. He'd gotten himself worked into the idea that he wanted me, on more than a physical level, and now he was asking for things that I was terrified to give.

I wanted it all to stay easy. I wanted to keep rolling in the sheets with him, spending hours upon hours appreciating his perfect package, but he wasn't game for that now. There was something more that he wanted, and, as far as he was concerned, it was about time that I pissed or got off the pot.

Jacob had had his share of heartbreak with Bella, and I'd had mine with Sam. The difference was that he was ready to move on now, and I couldn't stop wondering if it was all too rushed. I didn't want to be his escape route, and I didn't want him to be mine.

Couldn't he agree that we needed time to sort things out? We couldn't have done it if I'd stayed in La Push. The chemistry between us was hard to ignore, and I was positive we'd spend more time touching than talking.

Not that it was a bad thing in my book, but Jake obviously wanted something more.

Abram was finishing up with our room arrangements, dishing out the necessary cash, when my phone chimed with a text message alert. I stood completely still in the hotel lobby, staring at Abram's back. When I finally convinced myself to take the phone out of my pocket, I knew it'd be Jake before I checked the screen.

_Miss me yet?_

I scowled at the phone. I missed him like crazy, like an addiction. It was hard to break the habit, and I didn't want to think about it. Especially because I was missing more than his pleasure stick at the moment. I was sort of missing his face and his voice as well.

_Buzz off, Black. I'm trying 2 enjoy a romantic getaway w/ my boyfriend. _

I closed my eyes for a second, wishing I could stop thinking about him. I'd made the decision to come with Abram for a reason, right? I had to see if it would work—if I wanted it to work—and that wasn't going to happen if I couldn't get Jacob off my brain long enough to think.

The message alert beeped.

_Are you going to fuck him tonight?_

I felt heat gathering in the pit of my stomach as I glanced up to see if Abram was paying any attention. The person at the desk was gesturing quickly with his finger, explaining to Abram how to get to our room.

_Irrelevant. R U jealous?_

I'd barely hit send with my thumb before Jacob had a reply.

_No. U'll think of me._

What an asshole.

_U're an asshole._

Abram was picking up our bags.

_Hurry back, Leah. I don't like waiting._

I frowned and quickly tucked my phone into my pocket as Abram moved to my side. He had my suitcase in one hand and his in the other. He jerked his head toward a hall on our left.

"Let's go. This way."

We were halfway down the hall when my phone chimed again. I gritted my teeth and slid it halfway out of my pocket to see what it said.

_BTW, tell him I'll break his dick off if he puts it in you._

"Who's that?"

I looked up.

"My mom," I mumbled.

Even miles away, Jacob was kind of hot when he was jealous.

**JPOV**

"You've been distracted lately."

Leah had only been gone a day, and I was already going crazy. I'd resorted to hanging out with my dad, which was something I used to spend a lot of my time doing, but I couldn't get her out of my head.

Sitting on my dad's beat up couch, tilted slightly to my left from where it sagged in the middle, I stared blankly at the game playing on the television screen. My dad shifted in his chair to look around at me, which was saying something, considering it was usually pretty difficult to pry his eyes away from a game. His face had more lines in it than I remembered, but his eyes were still as dark and perceptive as ever. I felt them scrutinizing me, and I wished that I'd bothered to make a few vague statements about the game so that he wouldn't have grown suspicious.

My dad was one of the last people I could talk to about Leah Clearwater.

"I've been seeing Leah."

_Shit_.

My dad's black eyebrows raised so far up his forehead they nearly disappeared underneath his hat. He was silent for several minutes, and I wondered if I'd given him a heart attack. It was sort of what I'd expected him to do. Everyone knew how Leah was, how stubborn and bitchy she could be. I didn't think that the two of us ever would have made a likely pair.

There had been plenty of times when I'd ranted to my dad about how easily she could piss me off when she tried to act all high and mighty toward me, condescending me even though I was the fucking alpha of our pack. She had never failed to mention how she'd believed herself more capable of the position.

"Leah _Clearwater_?"

I looked at the floor. "Yeah. That one."

My dad's eyebrows were now in his hat. He let out an appreciative breath.

"_Oh_. How's that going?"

I snorted. "Probably exactly like you expect."

"Oh?" he prodded.

"She doesn't want to be in a relationship with me." I frowned. "Frankly, I don't want to be in one with her either, but..."

"Things happen," he filled in.

"Yeah."

I knew that he probably didn't want to know more than that, and I really didn't want to admit to more either. That was definitely pushing the boundaries of our relationship. I didn't want to scar my dad for life.  
"Does—uh—Sue know?"

"No one knows, but you." I winced. "And Sam."

"_Oh_," he grunted meaningfully again.

Practically everyone on the rez knew about Sam and Leah's past relationship. My dad was no stranger to the controversy. I could imagine all the things that he might be thinking knowing that Sam was the only other person that knew about Leah and I.

Of course, he'd have no idea that Sam had gotten more than his share of information about our relationship. I sighed. Thinking about his birthday cake made me lonely. I could feel my phone pressing into my leg, and I was annoyed that Leah hadn't texted or called since our very short text conversation the day before.

Maybe I had gotten the wrong impression completely. Maybe she really _didn't_ feel like I did. She would have called if she did. She would have sent me a text at the very least, even if Abram was in the same room.

But no, she was probably having the time of her life with that dumb fuck, not giving me a single thought. She _had_ went with him after all. That meant something.

"Well, is it worth the headache?"

I looked up at him. "I thought so."

Until she'd packed up and ran off for the week.

He nodded. "You'll make it work then."


	11. Coping Without Cake

**Author Notes: **I find myself endlessly in awe of how much response I get for this fic! It's been a real blast to write, and I'm glad that you guys have been enjoying my portrayal of Blackwater. I appreciate all of the reviews, though I haven't had much time to respond to them between preparing for finals and squeezing in writing time for this fic. So let me say a big, collective THANK YOU to all of the reviews I have not managed to respond to. Aside from that, sorry to go serious on you guys after so much careless cake fun, but I hope that you stick to the fic to see where it ends up. ;) I promise, it'll be worth it, and there's definitely still more cake to be had!

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**JPOV**

I had been there the day that Bella had lost her mortal life. It would probably haunt me for the rest of mine.

I'd never be able to completely shake the sounds of her screams of agony, the distinct sound of bones crunching each time her demon baby flexed a finger. It'd been killing her from the inside, and I'd been nearly insane with the need to stop it, but the Cullen's had remained all but impassive to Bella's suffering.

They didn't care. They only wanted their vampire baby, their twisted miracle. This was the case with Rosalie in particular. I had hated that bitch, still hated her a little even now. She'd made sure that no one had interfered with Bella's plans to give birth, and they'd obeyed her, despite the fact that I knew I wasn't the only one on to her game. She had _hoped_ that Bella would die, I knew. She had wanted that baby for her own to raise to complete her fucked up semblance of a family with her gorilla of a lover: Emmett.

If it had come to that, if Bella had died—really _died_—I would have killed them all. I would have slaughtered the Cullen's one by one without regret. It would have been easy. Maybe it would have been my release.

But Bella had survived in the way that she and Edward and the rest of the Cullen's had intended. The baby that had almost killed her had survived as well. I'd waited around long enough to know that the deed was done, that I couldn't verify murdering the leeches, and then I had left.

Sam had dealt with the Cullen's the first month after Renesmee had been born. It took me that long to cope with the idea that Bella was gone, at least enough that I could stomach seeing her for the first time as a vampire. If it'd been up to me, I would have avoided the encounter forever. I would have stayed the hell away from the vampire coven for the rest of my life, but I couldn't do that, because I was the rightful alpha, and the vampires were my business.

Not to mention, I still had a vested interest in these vampires. My heart was hurting for Bella, my soul crushed from the idea that I had lost her with finality this time, but she was still Bella. Some part of her was still Bella Swan, even if it didn't show in a blush in her cheeks or a sparkle in her brown eyes. I couldn't abandon her completely, though seeing her was torture.

It'd gotten a little easier each time until, finally, I'd felt nothing but a dulled sense of affection that could no longer be what it once had when the object of its focus had mostly disappeared. Occasionally, I'd hurt a little over the fact that I had lost her—failed her—but it was something I dealt with.

There was obviously no fixing what had been done. Bella was, for all intents and purposes, a lost cause to me. I could only accept and move on, as far as that went.

Years had passed since she'd been turned when we were teens, and she had become Bella Cullen, wife to Edward and mother of Renesmee. It was still a weird thought, but these were just facts now.

I had learned to get over the loss.

But had I learned it just so that I could get over another one?

Leah was severely pissing me off. She'd been gone two days with Abram, without so much as a text, and I was starting to wonder if maybe our entire relationship was one-sided too. I'd been confident when she'd left that she'd pine away for me, particularly when Abram was on top of her, and she had the vague feeling that his pinky was poking around near her clit only to realize it was his miniature dick.

I lifted a fist and banged on the Cullen's door.

I didn't want to be here on their front porch. I didn't want to smell the underlying odor that was the rot of vampire, but I had been sent to deliver a message on behalf of Sue Clearwater. Leah's mom was not as strong-willed or brave as her daughter, and, though she was completely human, she sensed the peculiarities of the Cullen's. She didn't like being around their nest anymore than I did, but, since I was known as the one that dealt with them, she'd sent me.

I waited, shifting from one foot to the other, and received no answer.

I lifted my fist and banged again.

"Looking for someone?"

I turned around. Nessie stood near the bottom of the porch steps. Shit, she really gave me the creeps. She looked too much like Bella, even sounded a little like her. Except for the bronze hair, she pretty much _was_ Bella.

"Yeah—uh—where's your mom?"

"She's out. Did you need something?"

Renesmee didn't smell like the other vampires. Her scent was more human, only laced subtly with the smell of vampire. Mostly, the aroma of her blood overpowered everything else. The sound of her heart beat also dampened the effects of her father's heritage. She was almost like a normal person. She seemed to waver in and out of my sight, slipping between herself and visions of her mother.

I ached a little with how she reminded me of Bella.

"Charlie can't get a hold of her. Sue wants her—all of you—to come to Charlie's house next week. She wants to have a—uh—little party, I guess. It's Charlie's birthday."

"Are you going?"

"I—I don't know. Maybe?"

Renesmee seemed to barely touch the steps as she skipped up them. She was too close as she reached the top one. She smelled good, and her face was too much like Bella's.

And did she ever blink?

"Oh. Okay, well, I'll let her know."

"Okay. Thanks. I should go then. See you later, Nessie."

_Get the fuck out of here_.

I brushed her arm as I moved to go down the steps.

"I give you the creeps?"

I stopped at the bottom of the stairs and turned back.

"What?"

There was a small pout on her mouth, puckering a line between her brows that almost looked childish. Was that surprising? If she'd aged like a normal person she'd have only been like, what, six or seven years old?

"You were thinking that I give you the creeps."

How could she know that?

"No I wasn't."

Now she frowned. "You really never pay attention to me, do you? You have no idea what I can do."

"What are you talking about?"

Renesmee folded her arms across her chest.

"You were thinking about how I give you the creeps, and about cake, and why she hasn't called you back yet, and..."

Renesmee abruptly trailed off, her face turning tomato red. I watched the blush spread across her cheeks, watched it tinge the tips of her ears. Her eyes went dark with it, as if she'd stumbled across something that had embarrassed her to see.

I stared at her warily. How had she known about cake and my lack of received calls? How had she known that I was thinking about how she gave me the creeps?

"How did you know that?"

She didn't answer for a moment, like she was trying to compose herself after whatever she'd been getting ready to say.

"I can read thoughts, and I can project mine onto other people, as long as I'm touching the person."

"_What_?"

Renesmee sighed. "My mom has mentioned this to you before, Jacob. In fact, it's been mentioned several times in conversation before, but you avoid everything to do with me, don't you?"

She could read minds? Like Edward? Shit, why hadn't I ever picked up on that before?

Because she was right. I avoided her on most occasions, and I'd never gotten close enough for her to touch me before. She was my persistent reminder of what I had lost when I looked at her and saw Bella and the life that she had formed with Edward.

"I don't avoid you," I lied. "You're Bella's daughter."

"And that's all I am to you," Renesmee said.

What the hell was she talking about? Why should she have been anything else to me? She was Bella's daughter. She was part vampire. It seemed only logical that I had as little to do with her as possible.

"You've lost me."

Renesmee shrugged. "The only time you think about me is when you're comparing me to her."

"Huh?"

"Forget it."

What the hell was she talking about? It was the most that Renesmee had ever said to me, and it made the least amount of sense. Why was she acting all offended? I felt like I'd forgotten my best friend's birthday or something.

Why had I allowed myself to be talked into coming over here? Everyone knew that the messenger was always the worst role to play. Now I was cornered into a conversation I didn't understand with a girl that gave me the willies and was making less sense by the second.

My cellphone chimed.

"Er—excuse me."

Renesmee didn't say anything, so I turned slightly away from her, pulled the phone from my pocket, and found that it was a message from Leah.

_I'm in a hot tub._

What the fuck? She hadn't called or messaged me in two days, and that was all she had to say to me now? I scowled at the phone.

_Congratulations._

"Is that her?"

The message alert beeped again.

_What's up ur ass?_

I glanced up at Renesmee. "Who?"

_Aren't you supposed to be on a romantic getaway with dumb-shit?_

"The cake girl."

I choked. "What?"

How far had Renesmee pried into my thoughts when we'd brushed shoulders?

"The girl that had icing on her. The one you--" Renesmee's brows drew together as if she was trying to understand something that made little sense to her. "The one you made love to."

Too fucking far, apparently.

"Why did you pry into my thoughts like that?" I snapped.

She shrugged. "I didn't mean to. Is that her?"

The phone had chimed again.

_Cranky, aren't we? Stop being such an ass, Black. I've decided we should get over this whole thing and get back to the part where we had fun 2gether._

"What is she saying? You're making a very awful face."

I blew out a breath that hissed passed my clenched teeth. She wanted to go back to _what_? Fuck buddies? Damn it, I had told her that it wasn't going to work like that. She'd gone away for two days and had become delusional. I knew I shouldn't have let her leave. She'd worked herself into the idea that she didn't care about me like I knew she did. Leah was afraid of attachment.

"She just wants to be fuck buddies."

My head was throbbing as my pent up anger built. I barely even registered that I had spoken out loud.

"Fuck buddies?"

Damn it, I'd just said the F-word to a girl that was only technically six or seven years old.

"She just wants to sleep with me."

Renesmee was staring intently at me. "Isn't that what men want?"

"Usually," I admitted.

_But not me. _

I thumbed a message to Leah: _Fuck that. If u can't give me something more, I'll get it elsewhere._

"She's seeing someone else too?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"She doesn't like commitment."

"No."

_What the fuck is that supposed to mean, Jacob?_

"Then you should stop cornering her."

I paused in the middle of typing my reply to Leah and looked up at Renesmee. The sun was filtering through the trees, and it glinted off of her bronze hair as she tilted her head to the side to study me. She looked like someone trying to solve a puzzle.

"What do you mean? I'm not cornering her."

That was a lie. I'd already admitted to myself several times before that I was acting like a clingy chick begging her cheating boyfriend not to leave her. My scenario was slightly different, but I was still obviously the one doing the chasing. I was making a fool out of myself.

"I saw it in your head, Jacob. Giving a girl like her ultimatums isn't going to work."

"Oh really? Then what will?"

"Pretending like you don't care."

"How do you know that?"

Renesmee rolled her eyes. "Just try it. You'll see. Now, if you'll excuse me, since your attention is already obviously consumed, I'm going to go in now. I'll let my mom know that you were here."

I didn't say anything as Renesmee strode away and disappeared into the house. I watched the door shut behind her, and wondered what the hell was wrong with the women around here.

**LPOV**

_Find yourself a different fuck buddy. I'm done._

I gawked wordlessly at the text message on my screen. Mother fucker! Who did he think he was? Just because I didn't want to roll over and play the faithful, doting girlfriend didn't mean one damn thing. I had made it clear, from the beginning, that I wanted a casual fuck, a casual friend. I didn't want strings, and I hadn't thought that he did either.

What the hell was wrong with him? Did he have no recollection of how horribly wrong his last attempt at a relationship had went? I did, and I wasn't game to do it again. Abram was safe territory. He didn't induce all of the wild, dangerous emotions that Jacob did. There wasn't a chance that I would get burned if things ended poorly between us.

If Jacob and I got too mixed up together, both of us would be scarred.

Besides, we were supposed to hate each other. We _had_ hated each other from day one of pack life. I was the bitch, and he was the overbearing, bossy alpha. We didn't mesh well together.

I was trying to give us both a safe out here, and he was throwing it in my face!

_Yeah? Well, may the curse of a thousand smelly twats be upon the dumb fuck that sleeps with you next!_

My thumb hovered over the send button, and I scowled at the screen. The comeback was a little too immature, and it wasn't getting across the rational, meaningful message I wanted to send. I tapped the backspace repeatedly, and then I settled for:

_Fuck you, asshole. _

I tossed my phone to the ground, and it clattered against the concrete next to the hot tub. Leaning on the lip of the tub, I sunk down into the bubbling, hot waters and pouted against the wall of the jacuzzi. One of the jets was gushing out against my downstairs, and I shifted away from it, no longer in the mood. I'd planned to work myself up with the jet and a few dirty text messages from Jake in order to be prepared for when Abram returned with our drinks. A make-out session and booze in the hot tub would have then led us back to our room where I could successfully get off for the first time since we'd been here.

Unfortunately, my idea that everything could go back to the way it had been was a foolish dream on my behalf. Jake was serious about this relationship jizz, and he wasn't going to back down. He was such an _asshole_.

If Sam had convinced me of anything when he'd showed up at my house a couple of days ago, it was that I no longer wanted to be in a serious, committed relationship. It was nothing but trouble, which was why I wanted to rewind to when I'd been vaguely committed to Abram and had Jake on the side. Too bad that my time away had only cemented Jake's need to commit.

It was now reaffirming my idea that Jake and I were two very different people that did not want the same things and, therefore, could not exist in a relationship together.

Too bad that my nether-region was now crying silently into the tub, and my heart felt a little blubbery too. What the hell was wrong with me? This wasn't who I was.

I was Leah _fucking_ Clearwater, and I didn't need a damn man.

If Jake wanted to be a pussy, well, I'd learn to deal with it and move on.

I would just sorely miss his beautiful dick, his smile, and maybe even his voice.

_Fuck_. I had really screwed myself here.


	12. Drink the Cake Away

**Author Notes: **Thanks, as always, for the reviews! You guys are great! A good, old-fashioned "balls!" shout-out goes to jkane180, b4queen, and wordslinger! You guys make Twitter fun. ;)

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"Leah, I think maybe you should stop now."

I closed one eye so that the my drink would stop multiplying on the table in front of me. It didn't work. The curvy glass filled more than halfway to the top with what was known as a Hurricane, continued to double and triple and blur and wave at me. When the hell did drink glasses learn to dance?

_Stop taunting me, bitch! Your vodka and grenadine are so yummy!_

I put my hand over the closed eye to see if this worked better.

Nope.

"I can't see!" I complained.

I lifted my free hand and made a grab for my drink. Miraculously, my fingers closed around the glass. I snickered as Abram reached to stop me, but I'd already lifted my third glass to my lips and was noisily slurping it down, fussing with the ice cubes that slid up to knock against my teeth.

Was it my third glass? Or my tenth? Somewhere in between maybe?

"Leah!"

"Nom nom nom!" I answered, Hurricane juice dribbling down my chin.

Abram's job search had gone not so well this time around, so we'd decided to spend a night at a local club to let off some steam before he tried again tomorrow. I felt like I was taking it harder than he was. At least, I was the one drinking like I had something to complain about. Not my fault if Hurricanes tasted good!

I sat the glass down and wiped the spill off my chin with the back of my hand.

"Leah," Abram repeated.

What the fuck had happened to his vocabulary? Suddenly, my name meant, "Damn it!" and "Quit drinking!" and "Why the fuck did I bring her to this club?" He was such a drag! Maybe I was tired of lounging around that hotel, looking at his annoyingly unimpressive schlong! If it poked me in the thigh one more damn time I was going to barf. Jacob would have appreciated my short skirt and heels. Jacob would have drank with me, and he would have danced and laughed and...

"What? I just wanted to wash the taste of that Bubblegum Vodka down."

I squinted at Abram's face through the mood lighting. The club was dark and hazy. Colorful lights wheeled on the ceiling above the dance floor a few feet away and tried to cut through the smoke of the fog machine that continued to belch forth across the dancers and filter toward the tables.

I wanted to dance. My heels had been made for dancing.

Abram's face didn't look like it wanted to dance. He continued to frown.

"You had that Bubblegum Vodka drink five drinks ago."

"I hate math!" I declared, shoving away from the table.

My heels wobbled—so unreliable—as I made my way determinedly through the crowd toward the dance floor. All of those moving bodies were screaming my name. I was going to rub on all of them individually.

I took hold of the railing as I climbed the three stairs to the dance floor.

"Pardon me!"

I shoved someone out of the way. They toppled into their date and cursed me, but I was already halfway through the crowd by that point.

I counted the bodies as they brushed mine. Most of them were fucking sweaty though, so it wasn't as pleasant as I thought it might be. I weaved and wobbled. My face felt like it was on fire, and I could feel the liquor in my stomach swaying back and forth. Grenadine was still think on my tongue. I licked my lips and tasted what was left of my lipstick.

Where was Jake? Why couldn't I find him?

There was a circular section of the dance floor that was separated from the rest. It was elevated with a small ramp leading up to it. I continued to hold the rail as I climbed up that ramp to a section of the dance floor where the floor itself changed colors. I stared down at the neon floor beneath my feet as it winked back up at me. The DJ was playing something thick and loud with a bass that made the floor throb beneath my feet. I could feel the beat pulsing in my chest like a second heart. I started moving my hips.

How long had it been since I'd danced? I was sorely out of practice.

A girl in a mini skirt openly humped one of the bars of the railing. A few guys were crowded around her. No one was watching me.

What the hell was this song? _Where the hell was Jake_?

My brain was sloshing around inside of my skull, riding the waves of the alcohol.

_Too much alcohol_.

I didn't know the song. How could I move my hips to a song I didn't know? I searched the crowd for Jake, wondering why Abram hadn't followed me. My heels were wobbling again. I attempted to dip and grind and do whatever it was that the song was instructing.

Why couldn't I be like the bitch humping the bar? She looked so damn sure of herself. Everyone was watching her.

Why would anyone want to watch me? I was an idiot that didn't know what she had until she lost it.

I missed Jake's dick. I missed his hands. I missed the sound of his voice.

He'd told me that he was done with me, the asshole! He couldn't be done with me! I wasn't done with him!

I closed my eyes.

"It's such a good vibration," I muttered to myself. "It's such a sweet sensation."

I held the railing and danced and dipped and swayed.

"Vibrations good like Sunkist. Many wanna know who done this. Marky Mark and I'm here to move you," I continued to sing part of the lyrics to _Good Vibrations_ underneath my breath.

It was easier to dance thinking about Marky Mark. He never let me down. I missed his purple willy. I would have to pay it an appreciative visit as soon as I got home. He was tucked into my drawer, and he was probably lonely. I knew that _I_ was lonely.

"It's such a good vibration." I dipped and thrust my pelvis forward, sliding it up the bar like the girl in the mini skirt. "It's such a sweet vibration."

I wished my damn cell phone would vibrate. I wished that Jake would text or call, that he would, at the very least, curse at me one more time.

I opened my eyes when a hand took me by the wrist. Abram stood next to me, the same frown on his face. He didn't look sexy underneath the swirling, multicolored lights like the other men humping their dance partners. He just looked angry and old and not like Jake.

"W-What?" I slurred.

I released the railing, feeling angry myself, and my whole world tipped upside down.

_Uh-oh. Fucking_ balls_, I'm going to fall!_

I stumbled sideways, felt my damn heels giving out on me, and half-swooned, half-clumsily fell like any typical drunk ass, and would have hit the floor if Abram hadn't have saw it coming. His arm wrapped around my back.

I blinked, and I had been slung over his shoulder. All of the alcohol rushed from my stomach toward my throat, heavily entwined with the blood that roared toward my ears.

"Oh, fuck," I cursed, staring at Abram's tight behind as he carried me through the crowd.

Where the hell had I gotten off thinking that he was a gentleman? Fucking gentlemen! Weren't they supposed to cradle a girl in their arms and carry them out like a lady? Ten bucks said that every dude that Abram walked past to get out of the club had a good view of my twat and ass.

I couldn't even reach up to hold my skirt down. My arms hung limply toward Abram's legs. My whole world was spinning. Everything was doubled. I closed one eye again, but that still didn't help.

Where was Jake? Why hadn't he come to help me?

Abram got us out of the club. As he stepped out the front doors, a cold burst of air hit my fanny. I hissed out a breath at the sudden change of the atmosphere, saw a few bouncers near the door shaking their heads at me as Abram toted me toward the parking lot. What the fuck were they looking at? Didn't they know that they were supposed to be gentlemen?

Wasn't there even one damn man that understood what class was?

For some stupid reason, I thought about Jacob and how my cell phone hadn't rang all day or night. The blood was pounding in my head, the alcohol swimming sickeningly towards my mouth.

I held on to the back of Abram's shirt, opened my mouth, and started fucking bawling.

I wanted to go home. _Fuck my luck_.

**JPOV**

Renesmee's advice was proving hard to follow. I'd been forced to leave my cellphone in a drawer in my bedroom to keep from calling Leah or checking my screen every five minutes to see if _she'd _tried to call me.

I shouldn't have let myself get so deep into this. Fucking at Sam's birthday party had been an act of lunacy, and I was unable to identify the man that had bent Leah over a kitchen counter right into a birthday cake. That guy couldn't have been me. I didn't do things like that. I was the rationality.

I had been the one that had taken on the job of reeling Leah in before she created a scene, and I had made an even bigger scene in the process. I had then successfully dropped myself into the most twisted excuse for a relationship I could have possibly aimed for.

It really wasn't even a relationship. Leah ran like my dick had reared up and hissed at her the second I'd even mentioned being serious. And why? Just because Sam had been a disaster didn't mean that I was bound to be. I had already determined that I was never going to imprint, so we were safe there.

Every single wolf didn't imprint. There had just been a surprisingly high number of wolves in our pack that had. I was the exception, and so was Leah, because we were meant to find each other, and we were going to damn well find each other, even if I had to hit her over the head with a club and drag her into my fucking cave.

I just had to figure out why she had left so suddenly, what it was exactly that was freaking her out. It couldn't just be the prospect of being in a relationship with me. She, at the very least, tolerated me enough to roll in the sheets with me. I couldn't be _all_ that bad.

I didn't phase until I reached the treeline by my house. It wasn't my day for patrol, but I needed the release of four legs and an open forest. I didn't even really cared who shared my brain in the process. It wasn't the typical time for patrol, so there probably wouldn't be anyone else in my brain, but, unlike Leah, I really didn't give a shit who knew anymore. They would all know eventually, if I got my way.

I wouldn't rest until I did.

Since I couldn't do anything until Leah returned, I needed something to vent my annoyance. Being a wolf was usually more a curse than anything else, but it also offered freedom that a typical human wouldn't get. I could phase and roam the woods and not a single person except a member of my pack could bother me. Mostly, they didn't either. Being alpha had its perks.

Despite the fact that I'd been banking on privacy and most of my pack should have been off doing other things, I found an accompanying voice in my head that didn't belong as I hit the ground with four paws. I recognized the voice as Sam's almost immediately.

_"Shouldn't have done that."_

This was followed immediately by several scenes that played quickly through my head before Sam could realize that he was sharing his brainwaves.

I saw Leah first, and my interest was instantly peaked. The sight of her in nothing but a sports bra and a pair of shorts made a few of my own memories of the past few weeks we'd shared together surface. They were easily ignored by Sam's louder succession of thoughts. I heard snippets of the conversation he shared with her. The more he talked, the more I realized that I was probably the last person that Sam would have wanted to hear this.

The farther his recollection of his last meeting with Leah went, the more I realized that I didn't want to hear this either, and the angrier I found myself becoming. When his memory ended abruptly with the kiss he'd forced on Leah, my own thoughts of fury must have interrupted his. I barely saw Leah's distressed face as she shoved Sam off of her before I was seeing red.

What. The. _Fuck_?

_"Jacob?"_

_That_ was why Leah had left me? Because of Sam? Because of that fucking kiss he'd forced onto her? Where the hell did he get off thinking he could do that? Where the hell did he get off thinking he could touch my woman?

_"Sam. Come here. Phase back."_

I was human again when Sam appeared through the brush, and so was he. I looked at his mortified face, and I saw all of the reasons why mine and Leah's relationship had suddenly gone to shit. She was running from him and lumping me in with the bastard.

"You kissed Leah. _You're_ the reason she left me."

I lifted a hand, thrusting my finger towards Sam's bare chest. He flinched but remained where he stood, staring at me as if I'd caught him in the act of kissing Leah. I had, more or less. Reliving the scene through his head, I'd been as good as there when it'd happened.

Sam lifted his hands in front of them, palms toward me as if he was trying to ward me off. My anger was surging to the surface every second that passed, and it was a wonder that I didn't phase back as the anger shook me, as I finally had something to focus my anger on.

"Jacob, calm down. It was stupid, and it was an accident."

"An accident? Do you think I'm a fucking moron?"

"No, and I'm sorry. I would have apologized to Leah too, but she left."

I could feel my face heat, turning red.

"Because of _you_!"

Sam watched the fury spread across my face. I could feel all of the muscles in my body tensing in anticipation. I was going to kill him, rip him limb from limp and burn him like a damn leech. He'd chased Leah away from me. Did he know the consequences for that kind of thing?

"Jacob, I--"

I swung without thinking. All of by pent up annoyance about my problems with Leah had swelled to the surface after having found a target for my anger. Everything I had was behind that swing, and my knuckles cracked against Sam's skull so hard the he fell over. The bruise that would slowly darken around his left eye was already visible as he fell flat on his traitorous back.

"Stay the fuck away from Leah," I spat. "She's mine now, and I'm going to show her what a real man is after your dumb ass nearly fucked it up for all of us."

Sam grunted and said nothing as he lifted a hand to his swollen eye. I didn't know if I was more pissed off at him or at Leah. How the hell could she compare me to him? How the hell could she leave me because of something he did?

**LPOV**

I fumbled in the darkness for my cellphone. I was still half drunk off my ass, but had successfully managed to pretend like I was asleep for the fifteen minutes it took for Abram to actually fall asleep. I banged my knee on the bedside table, cursed like a fucking sailor, and tried not to fall on my face as I struggled toward a small table near the window.

My cellphone gleamed provocatively in the reflection of a sliver of moonlight that filtered in. I flipped it open, closed one eye, and started typing a text that I hoped to God I was actually sending to Jacob.

_I hate you, asshole. How could you not be here for me?_


	13. Drunk Texts from Last Night

**Author Notes: **Apologies for the cooky divider line in this chapter between POVs. has been eating all of my divider lines, and so I thought I'd try something different to see if it would stick. Otherwise, the scene changes, and you're left wondering, "WTF? Did she forget a transition?" The answer is, "No, I did not. I'm a stickler for transitions." As always, you reviewers are amazing. You make me happy. Each time I get an alert for a new review, I'm smiling like a kid with cake. ;)

Also, sorry for the time it took to get this update out. Classes are over, but now I'm in the process of moving. I imagine any of you that have done that before can understand how completely exhausting and time-consuming that is. Also, I've been sharing my comp with my fiance. Word of advice: Never let your significant other get addicted to Mafia Wars on facebook. You'll never get your time on the comp. =/

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**JPOV**

My phone chimed somewhere around three in the morning. I could hear it vibrating in the drawer I'd stuffed it into, clambering for my attention. I shook off sleep slowly, reluctantly returning to the world where my right hand was swollen and slowly mending, where Leah Clearwater was still too many miles away sleeping with her boyfriend.

I hissed out a breath as I reached with my right hand automatically, bumping the tender knuckles against the drawer. Sam's face was as hard as a fucking brick, and it was going to take at least a day and a half for my hand to stop throbbing.

I would have done it again, given the chance.

I still couldn't believe that bastard. Not only was he overstepping some serious boundaries as far as Emily was concerned, but he'd chased Leah away during a crucial point in our relationship. I needed her here in order to convince her that she wanted to be with me.

I fumbled around trying to open the drawer, finally managed, and then had to grope in the dark for the phone. I found it just as the backlight for the screen began to fade. I saw a glimpse of Leah's name in the alert box before flipping it open and reading her text.

_I hate you, asshole. How could you not be here for me?_

I read it two or three more times, but I didn't understand it anymore on the third try than I had on the first.

Be there for her? How could I have been there for her? She was on a date with her boyfriend, a week-long getaway. I couldn't exactly hide in her damn suitcase, now could I? Maybe I would have if she'd given me the option, but she was already gone.

Rolling onto my stomach, I tapped a message back.

_What R U talking about? U're the 1 that left._

I had never bargained on Leah being complicated. I'd thought that, out of all the girls that I'd met in my lifetime, Leah would come with the least amount of puzzles to be sorted out. She was always blunt. She always said what she meant and did what she wanted. It was annoying as hell sometimes, but, other times, it was actually preferable. At least then I always knew how it would be or could be prepared in some way to handle her.

I hated puzzles. I just wanted something to be easy for once.

The text alert jingled.

_He carried me out of the club, and every1 saw my twat! _

As strange as it was, this text was slightly more enlightening.

_R U drunk?_

There was barely a pause between the text before:

_Y? R YOU drunk?_

I closed my eyes for a second. What was that bastard doing, getting her drunk? Was he taking advantage of her right now? No. That was stupid. She was texting me, so she obviously couldn't be otherwise engaged.

Was it possible to get off when the person you were fucking found you so boring that they were texting?

_No, I'm not drunk._

_Too bad. We could be drunk together. Why didn't you dance with me?_

_I'm in La Push, Leah. _

_That's a shitty, pussy-licking excuse, Jacob._

Damn it. Now I was thinking about her pussy. I closed my eyes against the glare of the cellphone screen and tried to concentrate on not letting my dick edge toward a boner. A throbbing hand was enough to deal with. I didn't want blue balls too. As if it wasn't torture enough, laying on damn bed alone.

A stupid text message from Leah, and I was craving cake in all the wrong ways.

Where was the rewind button to take me back to Sam's party?

_When are you coming home, Leah?_

_Whenever I damn well feel like it. Goodnight, assface. _

I didn't even bother to flip my phone shut before I tossed it into the drawer again. It was never going to be easy with her, and I had no idea why I'd thought that it might be. Leah was stubborn all the way through. She wasn't going to confess to any feelings she might be holding in.

She didn't want to care about me, and I honestly didn't want to care about her either.

Too bad we hadn't both decided that a long time ago. Too bad I couldn't stop visualizing Sam's kitchen, how all the things I wanted—my great escape from Bella—materialized as we stood over the cake. The savior of my sanity had cropped up in the least expected place, but now Leah was in my system, and I couldn't flush her out. Thinking about her was like a physical ache now. Would she take Bella's place only to disappoint me too?

I rolled onto my opposite side, away from the drawer where my cellphone was cradled. Favoring my hand, I attempted to fall back asleep. I didn't want to think about it. I wanted to stop hurting, mentally and physically. It was getting damned pathetic.

The phone rang as soon as I closed my eyes.

_What the fuck?_

I was going to murder Leah and be done with it, I decided as I rolled back over to retrieve the phone. The caller ID, however, told me that it wasn't a call from Leah. It was a call from her brother, Seth.

Perfect. Just what I needed. The whole fucking family must be hardwired for three in the morning or something. Next, I'd be getting drunk texts from Sue. I lifted the phone to my ear. If Seth was calling for any other reason than an emergency, I was going to find him and sock him in the mouth with my good hand.

"Hello?" I growled.

"Jake?"

I sighed.

"Who else?"

"What happened to Sam?"

I didn't answer for a minute, almost wondering if this was a trick question. It had been hours since I'd confronted Sam in the woods. Surely Seth couldn't be talking about what I thought he was. Sam should have been at home, in bed, nursing his wounds by now, making up some lame-ass excuse for Emily.

He couldn't exactly tell her that he'd kissed Leah, and I'd tried to knock his eyeball down his throat for it.

"It's three in the damn morning, Seth. What do you want?"

"Sam just showed up. He has a black eye."

I rolled onto my back, pinched the bridge of my nose, and looked at the ceiling. Way to be a puss and wallow out in the woods until the early hours of the morning. How exactly did he think he had the right to seek comfort at Seth's place anyway?

"Yeah?" I snapped. "He had it coming."

Of course he'd go there. He'd go anywhere to keep from going home and facing Emily. I wondered if he'd have a hard time lying to her, looking her straight in the face and not blurting out exactly what he'd done for that black eye.

There was a pause. "_You_ did this?"

"You want one to match?"

Seth ignored that. "Why did you hit him?"

As much as Sam deserved to be ratted out for the bastard that he was, I couldn't be the one to do it. I didn't want to be the one to come between him and Emily. I didn't know his true motives for kissing Leah, but I'd paid him back for it, one way or the other. The rest of his payment would be dished out if he did or didn't tell Emily in the form of what he'd have to live with either way he chose.

"I did it for Leah," I responded, keeping my answer vague.

"_Leah_? Why would you do it for Leah? The thing between them was years ago."

Like I didn't fucking know that.

"I just wanted to level the score."

I pinched the bridge of my nose a little harder. I didn't want to be having this conversation with Leah's brother, or anyone, actually. I just wanted to go to bed after a long day of nonstop idiocy.

"Level the—? Jake, is something going on between the two of you?"

"Take a hike, Seth. I'm trying to sleep."

I hung up the phone without a definite answer on purpose. If I was going to get Leah used to the idea of being with me, I might as well ease everyone else into it too.

She was going to be pissed.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

**LPOV**

"When the fuck did you get a cat?"

I wiggled my foot, trying to push the fur ball tickling the bottom of it away. Abram grunted in protest and batted my leg to the side. It felt like he'd shoved me off a cliff.

Oh, God, hangover central. I let my leg fall without much of a fight. Maybe I'd never be able to move it again. What a shame. I liked hooking it around Jacob's waist. Was it even worth opening my eyes knowing that it might never be possible again?

"That's my head, Leah. I don't have a cat."

_Oh, yeah._

I opened one eye and then the other. The room danced appropriately, the ceiling spinning like a wicked top. I felt my eyes cross with it, wondering if that surge of nausea would make good its threat. I fucking hoped not. I couldn't remember the last time I'd upchucked, and it wasn't a sensation I was eager to revisit. I spread my arms out on either side of me, knitting my fingers into the bed sheets, hoping that they would hold me back if the world decided to dump me off into space.

I hiccup-burped unattractively and heard Abram sighing at the opposite end of the bed. I rolled my head to the side to peek at him and realized that I'd somehow managed to turn myself around in the night. My head was at the foot of the bed, which would explain how my feet had rubbed against Abram's silky hair, mistaking him for a cat.

My feet were propped on the hotel's plump pillow while my neck was hurting from the strange, unfamiliar angle it'd kept while I was asleep.

Knowing it was a bad choice, I started to sit up, and I felt something press against my chest. I looked down, reaching up at the same time to pluck whatever was lodged between my tits out. It turned out to be my cellphone. I stared at it for several minutes before I remembered what I'd been doing before I'd passed out the night before.

Drunk texting Jacob. _Shit_.

I flipped open my phone to read over what I had said. I felt my cheeks heat in indignation. It was better to be indignant than embarrassed, right? Because I felt really fucking embarrassed reading over what sounded like a whiny, clingy whore moping for a man.

_How could he not be here for me?_

What the hell had happened to my balls when I was drunk? I didn't ever—by principle—sound like that. I didn't ever let anyone know that I needed them.

Especially when it wasn't true. I didn't _need _Jacob. I was fine on my own.

"You feeling all right?" Abram pushed himself up onto his elbows to look at me.

I tried to swallow, but my mouth was dry, and the nausea was rolling around like a bitch. I shook my head, afraid that an answer would be followed with vomit. I didn't know if it was the alcohol that was making me sick, or if it was the fact that I had, momentarily, caved to a pitiful, weak desire the night before to have Jacob whisk me out of the club like my hero.

Away from the music and sweat and alcohol. Away from Abram.

Heroes _didn't _exist. If Jacob _had_ a super power, it was only that his dick had mind-altering powers.

I felt Abram's hand on my ankle. It skimmed upward toward my knee. I continued to stare at my cellphone and the list of texts to and from Jacob.

Why had I texted him? I had told myself that I wouldn't, that he didn't deserve it after having said that he was done with me, that he would find someone else.

Let him_ try_. He would never find anyone that could please him like I could. That sad, sorry excuse for beautiful man length! Let him waste it on some other twat. Let him realize that having me as a fuck buddy was better than not having me at all.

But he hadn't caved and called first,_ I _had.

I wanted to punch myself in the face. Or maybe in the heart. I was supposed to be thinking with my twat, not my heart. Wasn't that how the male species survived and flourished, by thinking with their dicks and not their hearts? Only a fool caved to their heart. I wouldn't be a fool again.

"Do you need me to get you something?"

"No," I croaked, because he couldn't get me Jacob.

Mother fucking son of a bitch, get the hell out of my head!

"Leah."

Sliding out from underneath the covers, Abram crawled in my direction, his hand sliding further up my leg. I knew the region in which his five-fingered ship planned to dock, but even the thought of it made me want to gag a little. How could I even think about sex right now when the object of my humiliation glared at me from my cellphone screen.

For the first time in, like, _forever_, I was as far south from horny as I could possibly get. There was no redemption for my pussy in sight either. I closed my legs against his hand, and I thought it might have queafed in relief. I made a face at that disturbing though, but I could practically feel the sigh press past the lips of my downstairs.

It was the first sign that I was in real trouble here.

"I'm really hungover." It was only part of the reason.

Abram's hand stilled. "I can get you something for it, Leah, just tell me what you need. Do you need me to carry you to the bathroom?"

I shook my head, staring up at the ceiling in dismay. I wanted to be sick with the answer that was surging up my throat, knowing that it made me weaker than I had ever been before.

"Sorry, Abe, but I think it's time to go home."

My cellphone vibrated in my hand as if in agreement. I opened the text from my brother just as Abram was beginning to frown in disappointment. As I read the single line, the single accusation, my face lit on fire, and I knew that I did—yes, definitely—need to go home. The realization was not so mortifying as it had been on the first go around, when I'd felt motivated for different reasons.

Now, the idea that I needed to go home was almost liberating, because I knew that, instead of going home to run into his arms, I was going to go home in order to murder Jacob Black.

My brother's text message was short and to the point:

_What the hell is going on between you and Jacob?_

**

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**Author Notes**: If you're looking for something to fill up your down time while you're waiting for the next chapter of RC, you should check out my one-shot collab with BellaFlan. It's called "A Wolf in Cop's Clothing," and you can find it listed underneath my fics on my profile. It's completely ridiculous and hot, and it features the Leah you guys seem to approve of. ;) It was for the TwilightTeamDILF contest, though, so don't expect to find Jacob there.


	14. Party Favors

**LPOV**

I arrived back in La Push just in time to go to another fucking party with _another damn cake_. The icing covered son of a bitch laughed at me from center stage on Charlie Swan's dining room table. It laughed so hard it snorted maliciously each time Jacob stomped past me, pointedly avoiding eye contact. It was infuriating being ignored when I had so much to say, while, at the same time, feeling so little need to actually say it. I didn't know how to voice what I needed to shout in Jacob's face, nor did I think that I'd found the appropriate time and place to do so.

It was bad enough that my little brother knew something was up. I didn't want to alert every single other person I knew to mine and Jacob's confusing whirlwind of a relationship.

_How could that bastard go and do something like tell my brother—even hint to him—about what had been going on between us?_

The Swan house was filled with a variety of unresolved tension. I could practically feel my underwear riding up my ass from that tension, like a fucking wedgie of anxiety. I couldn't pick it out with everyone watching, and it damn well felt like every single eye was on me.

Except for Jacob's, and that was even worse.

Crammed inside of Charlie Swan's middle class house wandered Bella and Edward Cullen, their darling daughter, Seth, Jacob, Charlie, my mom, and I. None of us could go five seconds without brushing up against each other. Seth kept shooting me accusatory glares, his eyebrows lifting toward his hairline as if to say, "Why the fuck didn't you text me back two nights ago? Why the fuck have you been in town a whole day and night and still not texted me back?" I glared back at him, but my lifted eyebrows said nothing except, "Mind your own damn business."

Jacob seemed to vomit a little in his mouth each time we brushed shoulders, and even the Cullen's seemed to flinch away from me, as if I was a walking disease. Granted, I had never been on good terms with the vampires, but did they have to act like I stabbed them each time we passed?

I wondered why my mother found it necessary to have this little "family gathering." She and Charlie had been dating for several years now, and anyone that hadn't come to terms with it at this point was an idiot. Though I still had my qualms about how fast the relationship had happened after my father had died, I kept my mouth shut. It wasn't any of my business, and I didn't have any room to talk lately about questionable affairs.

Still, it was upsetting watching her mingle between the vamps, trying so hard to seem confident and welcoming. I wanted to tell her that Bella and Edward and Renesmee's faces would always look like they were permanently grimacing. It wasn't her fault that the three of them were as good as half-dead, and that they sometimes forgot how to act around polite company. She was still trying to offer the olive branch, and the need to do so had passed.

Besides, I didn't see Charlie Swan groveling at my feet for acceptance. He seemed perfectly content following my mom around, fawning over his granddaughter.

I felt an itching need to escape. Being in the same place as my prying brother and Jacob Black was wearing on me, making me feel caged. The more I thought about it, the less I wanted to deal with... whatever it was between Jacob and me.

Maybe it _would_ be best just to let it go. Maybe he had done us both a favor by shutting me down.

Trying and failing to listen to my mother chatting Bella's leg off, I felt Jacob as he passed by me, headed toward the kitchen. It was annoying how hard it was to ignore him. I glanced his way before I could think better of it, but he didn't notice. He was still looking in any direction but mine.

I hated that he was so sexy when he pouted. Good looks were such a curse. So was a firm ass. I watched his as he walked away, thinking it would be a dumb idea to follow him just as I began to move in that direction.

I'd learned my lesson about being alone with Jacob, but that didn't seem to matter. I gave my mother's chocolate cake a disapproving frown as I passed by it, ducking through the kitchen doorway just after Jacob.

He stopped before he made it to the fridge, where he'd been going to refill his ice.

"What do you want, Leah?"

He was fucking psychic, I decided, when he knew that I was there without turning to see me. Must have been his dick. The Greek gods always had some sort of wicked ass talent, and, considering his cock had to be a direct descendent, I figured there must be some sort of awesome power in that rod. Or maybe it could just sense the desperate S.O.S signal my vag was giving out, desperate to feel the slick embrace of a real man.

I frowned. It was slightly unfair to Abe, but, really, he was lucky that I even remembered his name when I was in the same room as Jake.

My alpha turned around to face me, his empty glass in hand. God, he looked gloriously pissed. My mind danced back to the cake, even though I knew it would be suicidal to damage another one, to be fucked to that brink of insanity again. I was already half-crazed enough.

If things started to make less sense than they already did, I would be in that loony bin I'd thought of, wearing my crazy person jammies and drawing crude replicas of Jake's dick on the walls.

"I've been back in town for two days, and you haven't bothered to talk to me."

It sounded so pathetic I could have thumped myself in mouth, but the accusations I had prepared to fire at him about letting Seth in on our little secret seemed to shrivel up and disappear in the haze of Jacob's lusty man aura. It didn't seem as important as it should have been.

He had broken the cardinal rule in our relationship, but I was more concerned about the fact that I was going crazy without him than I was with the idea that people might actually begin to learn about us.

Jacob switched his glass to the opposite hand, shifting his weight at the same time. I felt like I was being challenged, but I didn't know how to react. Jacob looked like a massive wall of unresponsiveness. He didn't even seem to notice what I was wearing, which was an outfit I had felt a great deal of apprehension about wearing in front of my mother.

I had decided it couldn't be helped when I was so desperately trying to win Jacob back, and now it was all for nothing. Did he realize how hard it was to make whorish clothing look sexy and seductive? If he could have even just touched my shoulder, I might have been somewhat gratified, but he wouldn't touch me at all. He would barely look at me.

I could hear the others talking and my mom laughing in the other room. They felt like they were a world away, in some fantasy land that didn't exist.

"I told you that I'm done."

He might as well have slapped me in the face.

"And I told you that I'm not."

Jacob shrugged. "You proved otherwise when you went on that trip, when you decided that you wanted to keep dating him."

I frowned back at him. "Our relationship was never supposed to go this far. I told you that from the beginning."

"But it did, and I wanted something more, and you refused to give it."

"That wasn't how it was supposed to work," I hissed. "Why can't you just enjoy it for what it is?"

Jacob set his empty cup on the counter with an aggressive clatter of glass against granite. I watched the tension work into his broad shoulders and tighten his face. It was so easy to piss him off, even when I wasn't trying to do it.

"Because it's not what I want anymore. We can't agree on this relationship, so it's over," he growled. "That's _it_. I've moved on."

I recoiled. "_What?_"

Jacob seemed to have surprised himself. For a second, he didn't answer, but stared at me with a perplexed expression that seemed almost regretful. It might have been because _my_ expression had turned murderous and disbelieving.

"What do you mean, you've moved on?" I demanded. "With _who_?"

Footsteps sounded behind me. I barely glanced back, seeing the bronze hair, knowing and smelling that it was Renesmee Cullen. She released a small sound of surprise, as if she hadn't expected to find anyone in the kitchen. Jacob glanced in her direction, made a face.

"Her."

The world came to a screeching halt, screaming like a train locking its brakes inside of my skull. I felt the blood rushing to my head, saw the red before it had even gathered.

"What?" I hissed, venomously. "_What the hell_ are you talking about?"

()()()()()()()()()()()()()

**JPOV**

I hadn't known if Leah had any intention to be back in time for her mom's little family gathering, but I had banked on the idea that she wouldn't be, and that I wouldn't have to deal with seeing her face-to-face confined in a very small area. Unfortunately, my luck was always shit, and Leah was there, wearing something sexy as hell, no less.

The skirt she had poured herself into was dangerously close to inappropriate for the occasion. Her halter would have been if it hadn't been covered with a short-sleeved jean jacket. I could still see her cleavage and the sexy skin of her neck. I could still see her long, fuck-me legs and the firm mound of her ass. I wondered why this combination seemed to fry only my nerve-endings, until I reminded myself that I was the only one in the house who wasn't, in some form or another, related to Leah.

The outfit was obviously for me, and she was a bitch for wielding it.

I did everything possible to keep from looking at her and giving her the satisfaction of ogling, but Leah was never content with being ignored, even if it was the better decision for both of us. I'd known she was following me to the kitchen, but I didn't think it'd be wise to make a scene when we were being watched, particularly by Seth.

Nosy bastard.

Not that it wouldn't have been rewarding to call Leah a soul-sucking leech in front of everyone. My annoyance with her far surpassed the fact that I had told myself to go easy on her considering what I'd read in Sam's head. Even if it'd given her a decent reason to flee La Push for the week, it didn't excuse the fact that she was still trying to use me.

I had entertained the idea of sweeping her into my arms when she got back, convincing her that I was the guy she really wanted and needed, but now I just wanted to get her the hell away from me before I made myself look like any more of a needy loser. I was trying to win Leah over the wrong way, and that was obvious.

It was also why I made a last minute, very impromptu decision by telling her that I was with Renesmee. Even saying it gave me the willies, but she'd walked through the kitchen door, and she had practically given me the excuse. It had been her, after all, that had suggested that I stopped chasing.

It was a bad idea. My gut told me that it was, but what other choice did I have? If I hadn't thrown an obstacle between us fast, I would have done something stupid and reckless and weak. I swallowed the wave of sickness I felt over pretending to date Bella's daughter, and I tried to enjoy the way Leah went from stunned to furious.

Now she knew how it felt each time she brought up Abram, each time I had to acknowledge that he stood between us.

As Leah growled at me, I noticed Renesmee's mouth falling open slightly. The half-breed looked from me to Leah and back again. Her eyes were wide, as if she sensed the danger I had thrown her into by putting her in Leah's path.

"I'm seeing Renesmee now."

Renesmee made a little choking noise, backing up a step as Leah twisted her head to look around at her. For a split second, I felt a flicker of unease. She looked so much like Bella, even with her bronze hair, that it was almost instinct to want to step between her and Leah, to protect her.

But she _wasn't_ Bella. She was Bella's half-breed daughter. This was a bad idea.

"You're seeing—When did this happen?"

While Leah was preoccupied with glaring at her, I gave Renesmee a pointed look, gesturing with a crook of my finger for her to hurry up and get next to me before Leah decided to attack. Shooting Leah a wary glance, Renesmee ducked her head and hurried to my side. Trying not to make a face, I reluctantly took Renesmee's hand in mine.

Leah looked down at our joined hands, and I practically saw flames shooting from her mouth.

I took a breath. "I don't know, Leah. Maybe while you were enjoying a dip in the hot tub with Abram."

"You—You..." Leah sputtered.

The kitchen door opened, and the rest of the party-goers filed into the kitchen. While they entered laughing and conversing together, the crowd collectively went silent the second they caught sight of Leah and I squared off, Renesmee tucked near my side, looking slightly alarmed.

I saw Seth at the rear of the group, stopping just inside the door. His face was red. He looked pissed, but I was more concerned with the look on Bella's face as she stared at me holding her daughter's hand.

_Shit_.

"What's...this?" Edward spoke first.

It was easy to see that he was more than wary about his daughter near my side. The two of us had once fought over Bella, and now it looked a lot like I'd taken my chance at the second place trophy: Bella's daughter. _His_ daughter.

"I--"

"Jake here was just introducing me to his new girlfriend," Leah hissed.

I could have strangled her.

"What?" Bella squeaked.

I felt Renesmee squeeze my hand. She was obviously panicking. I cleared my throat.

"Yeah, I was just telling Leah that we should go on a date with her and _her_ boyfriend sometime. I'm very interested in meeting the mystery man."

Seth's face turned purple. "What? What do you mean? Leah doesn't... I thought she was..."

Seth looked at me, but I ignored the question in his stare. Leah's face was almost the same hue as her brother's.

"His name is Abram. I didn't want to introduce you guys to him until I was sure that it was a serious sort of thing, but," Leah paused for a second to give me a wicked smirk, "I think it's finally to that point."

It was a pointed blow to the gut. Renesmee was practically breaking my fingers off in her vice grip, but all I cared about were the words that had just came out of Leah's malicious mouth.

Son of a bitch. She was actually going to go there.

()()()()()()()

**JPOV**

"It would have been easier if you hadn't been thinking inappropriately about that cake."

I frowned. "You were reading my thoughts?"

Renesmee shrugged. "You were the one holding my hand."

"Point taken."

"If it makes you feel any better, she couldn't stop staring at you and the cake either."

It didn't really make me feel any better.

I stared straight ahead at the road as I drove Renesmee home. I'd volunteered for the job in order to talk to her privately. We'd been watched carefully by everyone at the party after the confrontation in the kitchen, and I hadn't had a chance to thank her for playing along with the lie.

The party had been hard to tolerate after that lie had slipped out of my mouth. The younger Clearwater's took turns glaring at me while the Cullen's stared at me apprehensively, as if they weren't quite comfortable with what had happened. I couldn't blame them. Renesmee and I had barely had more than one full conversation together. If Bella and Edward had observed us interacting at all, they had to be wondering when we'd gotten a chance to find something interesting about each other.

It was a task to make sure that Edward wouldn't read what I didn't want him to see in my mind, and I was exhausted by the effort by the time that we left. I'd declined a piece of Sue Clearwater's chocolate cake, and I'd left Charlie's house trying to think about anything _but_ cake.

"Sorry I dragged you into this."

Nessie shrugged one shoulder. "It was certainly interesting. I'm not worried about it."

"What about your mom and dad?"

Nessie glanced at me, giving me a once-over, and then turned back to her own window. She said nothing for a minute as she watched the scenery whiz by. We were almost to her place.

"Are we going to be pretending to be lovers for awhile?"

_Lovers_? I swallowed uneasily. I hadn't considered the relationship I'd invented to be considered as "lovers." It was a lot more like, "Really close friends." Lovers encompassed a lot more intimacy than I could stomach to think about with Nessie. It was just too weird when I still had at least a dull recollection of my feelings for Bella.

"I—Yeah, I might need to keep pretending we're in a relationship for awhile."

"All right, well, I will just tell them what you said: we're dating now."

"How are we going to explain that? We never talked before this."

Renesmee smirked for some reason. "I'll think of something."


	15. Don't Forget the Mix

**Author Notes: **Many apologies for how long it took to get this update out. Between moving and having five million (maybe I exaggerate a little) house guests over the last week or so, I haven't had much time for anything but sleeping. Hopefully, up-coming updates won't take as long to get out there. I'm also going to try to respond to all of my reviews for this chapter (which I have, thus far, pretty much failed at doing). Like always, I really, really appreciate the reviews and support from my fans. Going Blackwater was maybe the best decision I've made in the world of fanfiction, as this story has definitely amassed an impressive following. You guys are AMAZING! On a related note, Revenge Cake will be featured as a read-along on June 19th, hosted by my friend, BellaFlan. I've never done a read-along before, but I'm thrilled that RC is going to have one. If you're interested, check out this site:

theficbridge (dot) blogspot (dot) com.

* * *

**LPOV **

Things had gone from bad to shit-tastic over the week I'd been home. All of my family and friends now knew about Abram, making the secret I had enjoyed keeping not so great anymore. I would never hear the end of my secret love affair with the bartender from Port Angeles, because everyone happened to be either pissed or amazed that he existed at all.

What was I to them? A hideous fucking boar? It seemed like everyone thought that, if I couldn't have Sam, I'd spend the rest of my pathetic life pining after him. Tough shit for those people. The only reward that came from everyone knowing about Abram was that Sam now knew too, and he would be forced to realize that I obviously hadn't spent all of this time wasting away in thoughts of him.

I'd been getting along fine, thanks.

Until Jacob Black stepped in my path at his birthday party. Everything had gone to hell shortly after that, and, now, to top the cake with its bitter icing, he was involved with Renesmee Cullen—_Renesmee fucking Cullen_—in what I was sure was an attempt to spite me.

I hated that it was working, that I was more pissed off than I had ever been, ready to spit fire at any second, and I couldn't do anything about it. The slightest hint that it might be working would only please Jacob, and I'd be damned if I'd please him again before he put out for me first.

Laying on my side, I stared at the indention that creased the bed beside me. The pillow was still molded to the shape of Abram's head, and I knew that he must have left only minutes before I'd woken up. I frowned, rubbing my hand over the sheets that were now cold.

I didn't share my bed. I didn't want to _live_ with anyone, but how could I keep resisting Abram now that everyone knew about us? My only defense before had been that I wanted to keep our relationship private, but the second that it had gotten out, my mother had insisted on meeting Abram. I'd introduced him to my family the day after the stupid party with a rock wedged in my throat, and now I couldn't get rid of him.

I didn't have a second's worth of privacy to call Jacob and tell him what a fucking douchebag he was, and how I would never forgive him for outing me.

I rolled out of bed, dragging my feet to the bathroom. I was faced with a day full of nothing but moping until Abram returned after work, wedged himself onto my couch, and pretended like he belonged there. I would have to play along, of course, because this was what I wanted, wasn't it? I had let my relationship with Abram go on, I had convinced myself that it wouldn't work out with Jacob despite our amazing sex, and so I was here now. There was no going back. Apparently, I'd been replaced with Renesmee.

The thought alone made me want to puke.

I opened the medicine cabinet, and something placed poorly inside fell out at me. I made a grab for it, and the red stick of Old Spice deodorant hit my palm, bounced, caught my fingertips, and then made the plunge. Connecting with the lip of the toilet seat, the lid bounced free just before the stick itself made a fearless dive into the bowl of the toilet.

The resounding splash splattered water upward onto the lid, and I stared at the red, plastic ship floating in the bowl, wondering why the hell Abram's shit was in my cabinet. Gritting my teeth, I fished it out, found a towel, and began to wipe it clean—sort of.

What the fuck was going on here?

Replacing the lid of the deodorant, I turned back to the medicine cabinet to see a razor, toothpaste, and nail clippers that also weren't mine. They laughed at me from their stolen spots in my medicine cabinet, and I had half a notion to drop Abram's deodorant back into the toilet.

He hadn't even _asked_ me.

Before I could be so vindictive, I stuffed the deodorant back into the cabinet and shut the door on it. Taking a deep breath, I told myself I was overreacting, that he needed these little things when he spent the night.

I turned to evacuate the bathroom and spotted a rumpled mound of boxer shorts stuffed into the corner behind the door. A noise buzzed between my ears like a television going static. I felt heat rise to my face, my stomach rolling in realization that my boyfriend had—in an unquestionable way—moved in with me while I wasn't watching. It'd only taken him three damn days to do so.

I flung myself out of the bathroom before I could be sick, before I could admit to myself what had happened here and know that it was partially my own fault. _I_ had continued with the charades. _I_ had given Abram every impression that I enjoyed his company, every impression that I wanted to continue to enjoy his company.

_I_ was the one that had shut Jacob out, had let my amazing affair dwindle away and slide between my fingers, because I couldn't figure out what Jacob wanted or how to give it to him. Now, _I_ was stuck in a relationship I didn't want, forced to watch Jacob mingle with Renesmee.

It wasn't right. Jacob was _mine_.

I jolted as my cellphone chimed from my bedside table, vibrating itself toward the edge. I swept it up before it could fall, hoping that it was Jacob—_stupid me_—until I heard my mom's voice on the other end of the line.

"Hello?"

"Leah?"

I felt myself deflate.

"Yeah, mom?"

"How are you, honey?"

"Fine."

Except that the bottom of the world had uncapped itself, and I was now falling through into a desolate and dark unknown that made me want to hate myself. Realizing that I had made a fatal mistake in my life was not something I wanted to own up to, was not something I even knew if I had actually done yet.

That was stupid. Of course I _had_ done it. I was the unhappy one now, wasn't I?

I had told myself a million times that Jake and I weren't right for each other. We were only the secondary characters caught in two great love affairs. It was using us as a backboard that had bounced Sam and Bella into their fairytale relationships, and what became of us was not supposed to matter. We were not destined for some great love. We were only meant to survive and pine for the fantasy life we had just barely missed achieving.

He was in love with Bella—or maybe Renesmee now—and I couldn't be either of them for him.

"Sweetie, I was hoping that you would come over tonight. Charlie and I are frying some fish, and we'd be thrilled to see more of you and get to know Abram better."

I wanted to scream. Abram was just filler. He was not the substance that was supposed to make up my life. He had been my damn stepping stone away from Sam, not the love of my life. His shit was already hogging the cabinets in my bathroom, the corner behind the door, and the left side of my bed. I didn't want him in any of those places.

He was my careless, meaningless fuck on late nights after he got off of work. He was my stress-reliever, not my soul-mate. Stress-relievers did not get to meet the family, did not get that sort of intimacy.

Unsure of how to interpret my silence, my mother went on, "Jacob and Renesmee are coming too, I believe."

I ground my teeth together against the surge of nausea that wracked my body and slid down onto the side of my bed as my legs went soft and dropped me.

Was it all just to piss me off? Or had Jake really connected with Renesmee Cullen during the short time I'd been gone? It wasn't as if I hadn't seen her ogling him before when we'd been forced to interact with the Cullen's for pack-related reasons, but I had never seen him return the attention. In fact, he'd always seemed a little frightened of her, which I couldn't blame him for. She looked almost identical to Bella.

"I-"

My words tangled in my throat. How could he move on so fast from what we'd had? I knew that I had taken an insane amount of pleasure from his magnificent dick, but I had thought that he had been similarly attached to my pussy—to _me_. There had been more than just sex between us, and it had scared the shit out of me, but I knew that Jacob had felt it too.

"I know you still feel awkward with—about things between Charlie and I, but I would love a chance for us all to smooth things out," my mom said, misinterpreting my inability to speak. "Plus, Jacob insisted that I invite you and Abram. He said he's eager to learn more about the man that swept our stubborn Leah off her feet."

"W-What?" I half breathed, half hissed.

It was a sucker punch to the gut that I knew that Jacob had planned carefully, had relied on the idea that it would get back to me. It was a direct challenge, straight from his smug, full mouth. Was that prick fucking testing me?

He had to be the most idiotic, infuriating man I had ever met.

"Jake insisted that you come," my mother repeated.

I was going to teach that dumb fuck something about _coming_. Something he was never going to find in Renesmee Cullen, something that would make him regret challenging me.

"Sure, mom, I'll be there."

"Great! See you soon, Lee Lee."

I clicked off the phone and tossed it onto the bed beside me. What might have once been tears surging up my throat, turned to fire. I could feel it scalding my insides as I fumed over the idea of what Jacob had said.

He was going to regret this. I would _make sure _that he regretted this.

()()()()()()()()()

**JPOV**

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

I weaved around a small group of people on the sidewalk, aiming for the grocery store on the corner of the block. It was a usual crowd of people for a Tuesday, and I waved at a few familiar faces with my freehand as I held my phone to my ear with the other. An older woman I knew from the rez called something out to me that I assumed was a hello. I waved at the woman, tucked under her umbrella even though the rain had stopped ten minutes ago.

Knowing Forks well, she didn't trust the overcast skies. I smelled rain and doubt as I drew closer to the grocery store. The doubt was all me.

"Trust me, Jacob, it's going to drive Leah crazy," Renesmee assured me. "It was obvious she has feelings for you, and she's not going to like seeing you and me together tonight."

I scowled at nothing in particular. I didn't like playing this game. I wanted to take Leah by the shoulders, shake her, and make her realize how stupid all of this was. She wanted to be with me for more than just sex. I knew it, and it was about time that she fessed up to it too. I didn't want to have to trick her into it, but she was so damn stubborn.

"You tried talking to her about it before, remember?" Renesmee continued. "It didn't work. _This_ will."

I stepped through the sliding doors of the grocery store. I blinked against the florescent lights, against the sound of a bum wheel on a shopping cart screeching as it attempted to curve one way while the person behind it pushed it in the other direction. I looked around, unsure of where to start.

"Yeah, I remember. What should I get to bring tonight?"

"I don't know," Renesmee said, sounding smug. "How about a cake?"

I made a face. "Very funny."

"I thought so," she laughed. "Get a platter with vegetables and dip. Everyone likes that."

"Good thinking," I complimented her, and began to walk toward the colder half of the store.

"It happens from time to time," Renesmee said.

Admittedly, it was still somewhat creepy too see or speak to Renesmee. She looked like her mother, sounded like her, but was a different person altogether. She was an unsettling presence that made me wary, but I was beginning to find that she was sort of all right.

There was just one thing I wasn't quite understanding.

"So, why are you helping me like this anyway? You don't owe me anything."

Renesmee didn't need time to think over this. "On the contrary, I'm pretty sure that, if it hadn't been for you, my family and your pack wouldn't have gotten along as well after... after my birth and what happened to my mom."

I immediately regretted having asked. I hadn't stood between my pack and her family for her sake. My motivation for that act had solely been Bella. Despite the loss of her human life, I hadn't been able to severe the strings that connected me to her. I hadn't been able to stand the idea that my pack might fight against her, might harm or kill her in an effort to avenge our fractured treaty.

I didn't agree with her choice—I _hated_ it—but I couldn't let anything happen to her. Whether or not her true love was Edward, I had loved her too.

"I've found that I've been able to like and respect you for that, and for other things you've done for my family."

I didn't deserve her respect. My motives had been, and still were, selfish.

"Renesmee, I-"

I trailed off as a separate conversation from my own abruptly drew me in. I stopped and turned around, watching as a dark-haired man moved past me on his cellphone too. He was clearly an outsider, but it wasn't what caught my attention about him. Searching the aisles and scratching his chin, the man was clearly confused by his surroundings, and he voiced his concerns to the person on the telephone.

"Where did you say the mix was, Leah?"

He turned in a slow circle, pausing as he caught me staring at him. Green-eyed and wiry, he didn't look like Leah Clearwater's type, but I had a feeling...

"No," he went on, lifting a brow at me. "I already looked there."

"You don't have to say anything, Jake," Renesmee spoke up as I dropped into silence. "I don't-"

"Hang on a second," I mumbled and lowered the phone to my side.

Somebody out there really fucking hated me if this toothpick of a guy was who I thought he was. No fucking way Leah had chosen him over me. He might have been handsome in a goofy sort of way, but he wasn't Leah's type, and he sure as hell wasn't the better choice over me. Knowing it was stupid and that I would probably regret it, I had to ask.

"Abram?"

The man's brows furrowed together. "Do I know you?"

I could feel the tension building in my head, throbbing near the back of my skull.

"Are you Abram?"

He frowned. "Yeah. Who are you?"

Not a fucking chance.

"Leah's Abram?"

"Yeah," he answered. "_Who _are you?"

Was Leah fucking blind? She had picked this guy over me? _This guy_? It was a joke. A really terrible, embarrassing joke. No way I was bested by this wiry, unimpressive twerp. _No way_. Was she trying to humiliate me? Was she really trying this hard to piss me off, to make me feel inadequate? Even _Sam_ was better than this.

I could feel heat gathering, climbing toward my face.

"Jacob,"I told him through gritted teeth. "Jacob Black."

The light of recognition dawned on Abram's face, and he opened up with a goofy grin, like he was excited to meet _me_. The urge to blurt out that I knew Leah's pussy better than he did surged up my throat so hard and fast I nearly choked trying to keep it in. It was humiliating to know that_ this_ guy was who had been keeping me from having Leah like I wanted, that _this_ guy was who now had her exclusively again.

The urge to punch him in his grinning mouth was hard to suppress. He obviously had no idea what had gone on between Leah and I. _He_ was the one stuck in the middle of our game, the one that had really been tricked and betrayed. He was innocent of any guilt that Leah and I shared, but it didn't quench the need to beat the shit out of the main obstacle between me and what I wanted.

"Jacob Black," he repeated, offering his free hand. "I've heard a lot about you."

I stared at his hand for a minute before finally, reluctantly offering mine. Sure, he'd heard a lot about me, but not _enough_. He had no idea who I really was, what I'd really done.

"Yeah," I managed. "Likewise."

"Huh?" Abram spoke into the phone. "Oh, yeah! I haven't found the mix yet, but I just ran into your friend, Jacob. Maybe he can help me out."

I wondered how Leah felt right at that moment, knowing that I'd met her secret lover live and in person. I wanted to take the phone from him and shout at her, but I didn't. I could have ended their stupid excuse for a relationship right then and there, but _I didn't_.

"Mix?" I repeated. "What kind of mix?"

I told myself that if he was looking for cake mix, I'd change my mind about taking the phone from him. Leah would only deserve what I had to say to her if she was actually thinking about baking a fucking cake for tonight.

"Brownies," Abram said, and I nearly breathed a sigh of relief. "Sue apparently loves them."

"Aisle three," I told him.

He grinned again. "Thanks, man. See you tonight, all right?"

"Yeah," I said. "See you."

I waited until he'd hurried off for the aisle, and then I lifted the phone back to my ear, and Renesmee spoke as if she could see me do it.

"Well, that sounded like fun. Did you enjoy meeting him, Jacob?"

"He's a fucking wiry, wimpy-looking shit."

"At least now you know what you're up against," Renesmee said, dryly.

* * *

**Author Notes: **Many thanks, again, to my readers, reviewers, and fans. You guys have made Revenge Cake so much fun to write and such a challenge. An extra thanks to my fiance, who reads every chapter of Revenge Cake and has been an excellent source of inspiration. (I'm still sorry that I dropped your deodorant in the toilet!)


	16. V Marks the Spot I Want to Be

**JPOV**

Leah's tits were directly in my line of sight. I knew that the bitch had planned it that way, sitting directly across from me with her boobs propped up on the ledge of the table. Her V-neck t-shirt took a daring dive between her breasts, exposing the swells of them generously. Underneath the table, her legs were bare. The shorts she wore could be considered anything but, as they barely covered the treasure between her thighs that I was practically fucking aching for.

I could still remember the days when Leah dressed conservatively, not seeming to know about or care enough to show her gloriously lean, curvy body. It was now her only goal in life to wear as little as possible in an attempt to murder me.

The first thirty minutes of the dinner had been awkward. Sue and Charlie had been forced to mingle with Renesmee and I separately from Abram and Leah, because I did everything humanly possible not to have to get near the guy. Seth stood in between the lot of us, not talking to anyone, but staring at us all suspiciously. When the hosts grew tired of running back and forth, they decided to call us all to the table for dinner. Renesmee and I had sat on one side, Leah, Abram, and Seth on the other, while Sue and Charlie at either end of the table.

Sue's fish was always amazing, but it tasted bland in my mouth tonight. Pent up sexual frustration could make anything taste like shit, and I had a bad case of it. Being away from her was killing me, but I believed Renesmee when she told me that chasing Leah wasn't the way to win her back. It was obvious to everyone at the party that Leah had entered pissy, had stayed pissy, and had no intention to be anything but pissy during most of the party.

I allowed my ego to stretch just enough to believe that the reasoning behind this was that Leah was fuming over the fact that I had a date, and it wasn't her.

It wasn't as if I wasn't justified having a date of my own when she still had hers. It was unbearable sitting at the table, across from the guy who had Leah. The guy that fell so short of my expectations for the man that had stolen Leah away that I was embarrassed to even fucking look at him.

I was going to get her back, but I was going to make her pay for it first.

"How long have you and Renesmee been seeing each other, Jake?"

I looked up, momentarily confused. I _wasn't_ seeing Renesmee. I stared dumbly at Sue for several seconds before Renesmee smoothly slid her hand into mine. I nearly dropped the fork I was holding in my right hand, surprised by the feel of her touch. I saw Leah stiffen across the table.

"Just a couple of weeks now," Renesmee volunteered, smiling shyly.

Leah choked, and I glanced over at her just in time to see steam rolling from her ears. A couple of weeks, of course, rolled into the time that I had actually still been fucking Leah. I lifted my brows at her as she glared at me, accusation thick in the air between us.

I closed my hand around Renesmee's and felt more than open to letting Leah believe that I'd been seeing Renesmee behind her back. She had, after all, still been having Abram right along with me. Why did I have to be exclusive with her?

"How'd you two end up together, if you don't mind me asking?" Charlie piped in.

I glanced his way, momentarily bringing Seth into my line of sight. Leah's brother was staring blankly at me, but I had a feeling there was a lot going on inside of that head of his.

"Jake comes over a lot to talk with my dad and grandpa Cullen," Renesmee answered for me again.

Slowly, I looked back at Leah. Her face was tinged red.

"I guess it just sort of dawned on me one day how pretty she was, and we talked and hit it off."

Charlie laughed. "Looks just like her mother."

Only Renesmee noticed as I flinched, and she squeezed my hand as if to reassure me. I watched Leah practically go cross-eyed, and I wasn't the only one that noticed. Abram was looking at her now as well, confusion evident on his face. He nudged her with his elbow, but Leah didn't look up.

"How about the two of you?" Sue turned the question to Abram and Leah.

Abram looked her way, apparently the only one of the two that heard her.

"Leah came into the bar one night while I was working," he said. "She was the best dancer on the floor."

I felt my face heat, but with lust rather than anger. Leah could dance? That was something I hadn't known, and now, with it offered up to my twisted mind, I knew that I was going to be fantasizing about that shit all the time. Damn it. If she moved like she fucked then I was in trouble. I had to remind myself never to go dancing with her. Especially not while I was trying to make her pay for picking him instead of me.

"How romantic," Renesmee said.

After being around Leah so much for the last couple of weeks, I'd become fairly decent at detecting sarcasm. I heard it then, in Renesmee's voice. I glanced over at her in surprise, but she was smiling sweetly at Leah, who looked like she could have murdered her in return.

"Yes, it sounds very romantic," Sue agreed, smiling genuinely.

I snorted, barely managing to cover it with a cough, though I figured Leah wasn't fooled. Abram's story didn't sound romantic. It just sounded like he had been scouring the dance floor like a horny bastard, probably getting his rocks off at the sight of Leah grinding.

"Excuse me," Leah said. "I'm full. I'm going to take my dishes to the kitchen."

"Yeah," I agreed without thinking. "Me too."

Leah sat and glared at me for a second longer, obviously having hoped to ditch me for ten minutes while she ducked into the kitchen for a pep talk. I wasn't about to give her the chance to find her control again. This was a war now, and I was going to win.

"Oh, all right," Sue said, sounding surprised.

Leah pushed to her feet, practically snarling at me, and stomped away toward the kitchen. I took my plate and went after her, noticing that Abram was staring after her, as if he thought he should maybe follow.

Renesmee seemed to notice this too. "So, Abram, what's your job like?"

One day, I was going to have to properly thank her for her help. Catching the kitchen door as it swung back in my face, I pushed into the room to find Leah dropping her plate into the sink. I put my own on the counter, knowing it was a bad idea to close in on Leah just yet. She swung around at the sound of my plate scraping the counter and confirmed my belief that I had pushed her to the brink of being ready to fight.

There was fire in her eyes, and I was hit with a sense of deja vu, recalling Sam's party all over again.

"You asshole," she hissed.

I laughed. "I'm the asshole? That guy out there is who you replaced me with?"

"I didn't replace you," Leah snarled. "I was seeing him first."

"But you picked him, didn't you? That's like—That's like spitting in my face."

"No, it's not. Should I show you what me spitting in your face is really like?"

Leah took a challenging step forward, and I did too. I was a head taller than her, and she thought she was intimidating me?

"Try it, and I'll kick your ass," I warned. "Right here in front of your family."

Leah bared her teeth. "Oh yeah? Looks like you're trying to make it _your_ family now too. How long did it take you to get into that leech's pants? Have you been fucking her all this time too? To think I thought you were a fucking gentleman!"

"_Me_?" I scoffed. "No, you were the one having two guys at once. I went for Nessie when you decided to shut me out and take your stupid trip, and it was kind of nice seeing what a real fucking lady was like."

She growled. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean, dick-licker?"

I felt my own built-up anger breaking through to the surface. A week of being alone and pissed and pining for the woman that obviously didn't want me like I wanted her had torn me up and made me bitter and angry. Why the fuck couldn't she see that we were supposed to be together? That she wanted me as much as I wanted her? Why the hell had she even thought about keeping that panty-waste, Abram Adams, over me?

"It means that you're a two-timing, cock-hungry whore!"

Leah's mouth fell open, her eyes practically bugging out of her head. The brief moment of silence was impossibly loud between us. I saw her arm tense and expected her to swing at me, but she lifted both of them instead and shoved me. Surprised, I stumbled back a step, but Leah was back on me in the blink of an eye, and this time she _did_ swing.

Her open palm slapped me, stinging a red mark across my cheek. I felt my left eye water, but I saw and caught her wrist when she attempted to swing again. She growled angrily, obviously out for blood now.

"You limp dick, mother fucking ass-plug," she snarled. "Let go of me so I can punch you this time!"

"You sure that's really what you want to do to me?" I snarled back.

One quick jerk on her wrist, and she was against me. Her breasts were pressed flat against me, and I nearly sighed in contentment as her hips rested between mine as she strained against me. The heat that sparked between us was more than just the unnatural temperature of our bodies as it burst into flame, matching the angry fire in Leah's eyes that hadn't blown out in the slightest.

She was fucking blind and numb if she couldn't feel or see what was between us. Maybe it was incredibly physical, but it was more than just that. One week of her being away, and I was ready to go crazy with need for her.

"Yeah," she said, "and if you let go of my wrist, that's exactly what I'm going to do."

I smirked. "Do you think I'm stupid? Do you think that I don't know that you wore this for me?"

I glanced down between us at the V of her t-shirt, at the promising dip between her boobs. Leah scowled at me in response, her brows furrowing together.

"I wore it to piss you off," she snapped. "You're an idiot if you think that I wore it for anything else."

"Tell me that you want me, Leah."

She hadn't moved away from me. It meant something to me that she hadn't, that she was actually starting to sag against me rather than strain away from me. I could see it all in the way that she was looking at me, in the way that her mouth quivered slightly at my request.

An entire week of being pissed, of feeling the need to continue to be pissed, didn't mean shit if Leah would just fucking cave to _me_ for once. Just this one time.

It was stupid, because I had told myself that I would work to get her back in a way that would make our relationship be more than just physical, but I was insanely attracted to Leah, and I was a man, and I couldn't ignore the opinions that came from inside of my pants.

"Fuck off, Black," she said.

But her head tilted a little to the left, like she meant something else. She must have pressed up onto her tiptoes, because her mouth was suddenly closer to mine than it should have been. Her eyes were already half-closed. I felt my heart press against my ribs.

I looked at her lips, knowing that it was the wrong way to go about it, but...

"Le—_ah_, fuck."

We both stiffened, stepping away from each other so fast I was surprised that one of us didn't fall on our ass. I turned and saw Seth standing just inside of the door—a direct blast from a certain birthday past—looking like he'd seen a ghost. His eyes wide, his face pale, he stared at us. Both of us were red-faced like the criminals that we were.

"Seth, I-"

I started to explain somehow, but the younger Clearwater quickly and stiffly shook his head, backed out of the kitchen doorway, and disappeared. I turned back to Leah, but the look of anxiety on her face shut me up just as I started to speak again.

She shook her head like her brother had and quickly bolted for the door after him.

Why the_ fuck_ couldn't I do this right?

I went to hurry after her, opened the door, and nearly ran right over the top of her. Bumping into her back, I knocked her right into Abram, who had apparently been on his way to the kitchen. He caught around the waist, and I was kicked swiftly in the ass with a strong wave of envy.

"There you are," he said, and I saw Renesmee peek around him.

She was evidently relieved to see Leah and I standing there, not caught in the act of what she must have wagered we were doing in the kitchen.

"S-Sorry," Leah stammered. "Jacob and I were just talking."

Abram glanced at me over the top of her head. He didn't seem to suspect anything. If he did, I couldn't figure out why the hell he'd still be smiling like he was.

"Really? So were Renesmee and I. We were talking, and we both think it would be fun to go on a double date tomorrow," Abram said. "Ren knows a nice place in Port Angeles, says that her parents can get us a good table. I thought it'd be fun."

I stared at Renesmee incredulously. Was she_ insane_? A fucking double date with Leah and _Abram_? That was the last thing I wanted to do. Especially now, after I'd just made a fool of myself, after I'd just been rejected.

But she didn't know about that, and neither did Abram. To the outside world, Leah and I were friends with no reason to avoid each other, no reason to feel awkward or hot under the collar.

"Uh, sure," Leah mumbled, reluctantly. "That sounds...nice."

"Great." Abram beamed. "It's settled. Renesmee even said we could ride in style in her BMW."

"How _kind _of her," Leah said.

Abram laughed, tucking his arm around Leah's shoulder, and leading her back toward the dining room. They left Renesmee and I alone there. She looked at me, as I stared at her. She seemed to realize that she'd made a mistake.

"I'm guessing something bad happened," she said. "I'm sorry. I thought—I thought we could do the double date to make her jealous."

I shook my head. "It's not your fault. Tomorrow's just...going to be embarrassing."

Renesmee turned slightly pink. "Sorry, Jake."

I didn't answer her. I'd been so close to getting Leah back where I wanted her, and then the moment had been ruined again, and she'd _ran_ from me. As embarrassing as tomorrow had the potential of being, maybe Renesmee's idea was a good one.

I'd be damned if I let her keep running from me, even if I had to make a fool of myself again.

* * *

**Author Notes: **Ahhh, I missed my smut. ;) Though this was barely grazing the surface. Two chapters in one day though? You're welcome. ;P


	17. The Cravings of Cake

**JPOV**

"I feel ridiculous."

Bringing her hands up around my neck, Renesmee looked up at me as she straightened my collar. She rolled her eyes and dropped her hand to bat mine away as I tried to reach up for the buttons of my shirt.

"No, ridiculous was the way you presented yourself yesterday. Tonight, you're going to stick to my plan, and we're going to make Leah Clearwater drool all down the front of her shirt, or breasts, since I'm sure that'll be exposed again."

I would have laughed at the dryness of her tone, her evident dislike of Leah, but I was having a moment of doubt that didn't warrant humor.

I didn't share her confidence. I grimaced just looking at my own reflection in her floor-length mirror. I could live with the blue jeans, but not the short-sleeved grey, button-down shirt that she insisted I leave the top four buttons open on. It was ridiculous, and it wasn't me. Leah would see right through it.

"She's never going to buy into this."

Having had her way with me, Renesmee sighed and stepped back. We'd spent the last half hour dressing me up, and it was only then that I really took notice of what she'd dressed herself up in: a short, pink dress. I'd seen it on Alice before, but it looked particularly nice on Nessie.

"Look, I know you're adorably unaware of what you have to offer, but the female population is not," Renesmee said. "When Leah sees this triangle of your chest exposed, it's going to drive her crazy."

She swatted said exposed flesh with the back of her hand and immediately looked surprised that she had done so. Her hand lingered there a second longer than it should have. She started a little, drawing it quickly away. For some reason, it reminded me of a time when Bella had punched me for a kiss I shouldn't have stolen.

Not the same circumstance at all, but it popped up in my head anyway, a long forgotten memory. The awkward silence that ensued was filled with ghosts.

I cleared my throat. "That's it? My chest is going to bring Leah back to me?"

"First of all, you have to wear something nice to a restaurant like the one we're going to, so you're not getting out of this outfit regardless," Renesmee told me. "Having said that, no, this alone won't bring her back. It's going to require a little more than that."

"Yeah? Like what?"

Shoving Abram in front of a bus sounded like a good idea to me, but I doubted that was what Renesmee had in mind.

"Tonight, at the table, we're going to have our very first kiss."

()()()()()()

**LPOV**

The Cullen's were such fancy pricks. I wagered that, if they were cut, they'd fucking bleed gold. Living for an eternity was totally fucking the system sideways. It wasn't fair that they were rich, or that they could rub it in the rest of our faces. Most of all, it wasn't fair that they could have Jacob.

Renesmee's little restaurant looked like a dining hall for the king of fucking England. Marble floors, white cloth tables, candles, chandeliers, red roses—for Christ's sake, how did she expect _us_ to afford to eat here? _Us_, as in: my poor ass, Jake's mechanic wages, and Abram's shitty bar tending tips. I would sip water all night before I let a Cullen pay for my meal.

The night was going to be a damn disaster. I had known it from the second I'd seen Jacob and Renesmee pull up into my driveway. She was in a cute pink dress and had even managed to wrangle Jake into something sophisticated and hot. I couldn't feel victorious for my chest showing in my dress when Jake's was showing in his sexy shirt. I could see the dips of his collarbone, and his taut, tan flesh. It was fucking _maddening_. The night was bound to be torture, and, within the first five minutes of sitting at one of the fancy tables, it definitely was.

The table was round, but Jake's chair still seemed to be closest to Renesmee's, and she continued to smile and giggle and bat her lashes at him like it wasn't all some big joke, like they _actually had feelings for each other_. When she reached over and took his hand, and he let her, I felt my ship sinking.

I had thought it was all a joke. I had thought that Jake was just putting me on, that the relationship was a hoax. I had known that it was when he'd followed me into the kitchen yesterday and started making moves toward me, but maybe I was wrong. Maybe Jake's sole intention had actually been to be a jackass in the kitchen. Maybe _I _was the one that had almost kissed _him_.

The night before, I'd been plagued with the idea that I'd missed my chance to have him back, but now it was looking a lot like I'd saved my own face. The meeting in the kitchen had probably just been a test to see if I still wanted him, just like I had tested him in Sam's kitchen to prove that he had wanted me.

When Abram reached for my hand, I let him hold it, wondering if he could feel how clammy it was, wondering if he could possibly know how much I wished that I was in Renesmee's seat.

It was pathetic and embarrassing. When and how had I ever allowed myself to fall for Jacob Black?

I watched as, after we'd placed our orders, Renesmee casually tilted her head to the side, letting it rest, momentarily on Jacob's shoulder.

_My_ shoulder.

"So, what do you guys think of it?" Renesmee asked.

Stupid leech.

"It's real nice," Abram replied.

Who was I? What had I become? I wasn't this needy, whiney bitch that rolled over like a good fucking dog. I wasn't the woman that allowed herself to be swept under some rug and disregarded. I sure as _hell_ wasn't the girl that was going to be bested by a vampire hybrid. All of this running and being afraid or jealous or bitter, it wasn't me anymore. I'd left that girl with Sam.

"Feel free to order whatever you want."

"Sure thing," Abram said.

I'd been presented with an obstacle, but I'd learned to work through those. Renesmee Cullen was an obstacle and this restaurant that I couldn't afford was an obstacle, but I could make due with this fancy, circular table even though Jake's chair was closer to Renesmee's and Abram was sitting right beside me.

I started to lean over, to reach stealthily under the table toward the treasure underneath the crotch of Jacob's pants. I grazed his leg with my fingertips, and Renesmee abruptly looked up at me, as if I had touched _her_ leg instead. I stopped in surprise.

"Jake?" she said, her eyes still on me.

Jacob, who had just started to look at me in question, turned his head toward her instead.

"Yeah?"  
I saw something in the way she looked at me that made me want to wrap my hands around her pale little neck.

_Was that a fucking challenge I saw?_

Before I could so much as try to decide, Renesmee released her hold on Jacob's hand, turned to him, planted both hands on either side of his face, drew that face quickly toward hers, and _kissed him_.

My heart took a swan dive to the floor.

_She really fucking kissed him_.

There was no room for question, no room for doubt. Her mouth was planted firmly against Jake's, and she kissed the shit out of him.

A real kiss.

An _open-mouthed _kiss.

A _soul mate_ kiss.

I felt Abram's hand on my shoulder as my face went pale, and I felt sick. He tugged a little, as if he was

trying to draw me back to him. I didn't know if it would be to ask me if I was all right, or if he planned to kiss me as some sort of show to Renesmee and Jake that we were as in love as they obviously were. It was one competition I _did not_ want to be a part of.

"Excuse me," I muttered, glancing at Abram over my shoulder. "I'll be right back. Bathroom break."

I pushed to my feet before anyone could try to stop me, knowing I had to get the fuck away from the table and the sight of Renesmee and Jake kissing. Neither one of them acknowledged me as I hurried like hell to get away from them, as if they hadn't even heard me.

My face was red and on fire, so hot it threatened to bring on tears. What the fuck? I didn't cry. I never cried. Men weren't worth it. Jacob wasn't worth it. I stumbled into the bathroom, practically falling through the swinging door, blindly groping toward the sink where I could tend to the leak in my pipes that had spilled forth over my cheeks.

I latched on to the edge of the granite row of sinks, catching a look at myself in the mirror in front of me. My eyes were reddening with the tears that I swore to fucking God I wasn't really crying. I pulled my knuckles across my cheeks, dragging away the treacherous signs of my weaker feelings as my knees wobbled underneath me.

It was so fucking hard to _breathe_.

How could he have kissed her? Yeah, I had tongue-wrestled Abram plenty of times, but it hadn't been like the way Jake had kissed Renesmee right in front of me, right in front of _everybody_. It had been like watching soul mates lock lips—like Sam and Emily all fucking over again.

_No_. No _way_. Jake didn't have a soul mate, and neither did I. That was why we were a perfect pair—why we were meant to be together. We were the substitutes that became primary characters only when we were together. I had made him eggs and let him fuck me with Mark Wahlberg's purple willy, for Christ's sake! I had let him into my house, into my bed, into my privacy, and between my legs.

Jacob Black had invaded me entirely, and this was what was to come from it?

Feeling sick, I pitched forward a little, bumping my head against the glass mirror as I fought to find my gravitational pull with my hands flat against the sink.

I groaned miserably as the bathroom door swung open, wishing for privacy.

"Leah?"

I looked up, right into Jake's uncompromising stare. I released the sink and staggered back slightly my cheeks heating again, flushing with the embarrassment of the torture he must have been able to read all over my face.

"J-Jake?" I stammered, and then felt stupid for stuttering, for seeming weak in front of him.

I didn't want him to know that his gimmick with Renesmee was working, and, if it wasn't a gimmick, which I sorely fucking hoped it was, I really didn't want him to know that he'd moved on, and I hadn't. He couldn't know that I was the one paying for my mistake of running away.

"What the fuck? You can't—You can't whip your shit out here. This is the chick's bathroom."

He scowled, drawing his brows down and puckering his lips into that sexy pout that I could practically taste from my vantage point against the far wall near the paper towel dispenser.

"I didn't come in here to take a piss, Leah."

Someone was holding me by the throat and choking off my air supply. I couldn't breathe. All I could see was the exposed V of chest flesh that Jake was flashing. I stared at it greedily, flicking my gaze up in intervals to look from his sharp collarbone to his pouting lips. The set of his stance was sending all sorts of warning signals to my frazzled brain, but they were lost on me. I felt pinned to the wall by that scowl.

"Why'd you follow me in here, Black? Unless you've suddenly sprouted a twat, which would explain your abrupt change of taste in cock-pockets."

I wasn't too fucking proud to admit that, when worse came to worse, I would hide valiantly behind my smart mouth, my inability to shut up when I was nervous, to badger and belittle. Okay, maybe I wouldn't admit that out loud, but I knew it myself, and I knew that I was grasping at straws to piss Jacob off and keep him on the other side of the bathroom.

Why? Because he looked dangerous at the moment. Did I _have _to have a reason why? A girl recognized when she was in danger of losing her sanity if she pressed one more toe to the boundary line, and a smart girl knew to avoid it.

_Could_ I avoid it with Jake's "V" of chest exposed?

"I don't know," he said, his voice flat.

But he took a step forward, like he _did_ know.

"You don't just—You can't just walk into the vagina café, Jacob. You belong in the penis palace across the hall. I'm—I'm trying to freshen up here."

Jacob cocked his head to the side, cupped his hand underneath my chin, and turned my face toward the mirror. He studied me in the reflection, and I felt liquid heat in my veins. My nipples went taut underneath my bra, feeling almost painful as I stared at his reflection as well. My gaze trailed down south toward his pants.

Was that a bulge I saw?

"You look pretty fresh to me, Leah."

"I'm not. I—I need a minute."

"I don't have a minute."

"Jake."

"Yeah?"

"Get the fuck off of me."

"I'm not on you," he said. "_This_ is me being on you."

He edged his way between my thighs, urging my legs apart by nudging them with his knees. I would have slid straight to the floor if he hadn't been pressed against me.

"W-What are you doing? You just fucking kissed Renesmee right in front of me, right in front of everyone, right in front of…J-Jesus."

His hands had slid underneath my shirt, worked their way up, and were now cupping my tits underneath my bra. I felt the strap of my black, lacy boob safety belt straining against my back as Jacob's big hands tucked themselves underneath it.

"You started this," he said.

My hands were already to his pants, working the button loose, dragging the jeans down away from his waist. His mast was already lifted, waiting for me. I nearly sobbed to see it. It was like Christmas morning, and the biggest present had my name on it. I was eager to unwrap it with the lips of my twat that were sobbing their own tears of sweet relief.

Fuck the fact that we were in a high class restaurant's bathroom, and the fact that Renesmee and Abram were sitting at a table outside. Having Jacob's dick pressing hard against my thigh made all other cares in the world vanish like magic. Even Jasper Hale's mind tricks couldn't have loosened me up better.

()()()()()()()

**JPOV**

Leah's thong slid away like water.

Wait—_thong_?

The blood in my dick was unbearable as I fingered the flimsy strap of material before letting it slide down her long, sleek legs to the floor, leaving nothing but a short dress in my way, and it was a poor excuse for a barrier. I hitched it upward over her thighs and felt Leah's naked waist press into mine.

"Leah?"

"_Mm_?" she growled.

"You started this."

She opened her eyes. I saw the flash of irritation in them, saw the way her mouth fell open to voice it, and purposely picked that moment to take her by the hips and lift her. She sucked in a breath as her feet inched off of the ground to be lowered toward it again as I slid her down onto my dick.

Her silky, warm pussy closed around me, and I drew in a breath with her as I sheathed myself inside of her. Her toes brushed the floor, but her weight rested on me as I pressed deeper inside of her.

"Renesmee," she choked out, her eyes dark.

_Renesmee_. The kiss with her had been strange and uncomfortable for several reasons I couldn't really name, and I had been glad when she'd broken it off seconds after Leah had run away from the table. The look in her eyes as she'd pulled away had made me leery, but _she_ had been the one to urge me to go after Leah.

"Abram," I replied.

Before I had left Renesmee at the table, I'd inclined my head first toward Abram, but the quick little vampire hybrid had shaken her head, as if to tell me that she would take care of it.

Leah's mouth twitched upward. "Fuck them both."

I grinned against her lips as I covered them with mine. Letting my hips pull away and then thrust back against hers, I pumped toward her core. The cold tile was at her back, and I could feel it against my legs as I held her between them and the wall. She groaned, closing her teeth over my bottom lip as I began to pump her against the wall.

Her nails dug into my shoulders, and she broke momentarily free of the kiss, pressing her forehead to mine.

"Abram works every night at nine o'clock."

I stilled, staring at her lowered face, wondering if I'd misunderstood her.

"That's not how this is going to go, Leah."

I could tell that she was frowning.

"We're both in committed relationships now."

No, _we_ weren't. _Mine_ was a fake. I opened my mouth to try to explain, but Leah shook her head.

"Just go along with this, okay?" she asked. "Give me some time. Just—Just, _please_, fuck me."

The plea went straight to my dick, which was still incredibly hard, despite our conversation, as if Leah had some sort of magic pussy that made it instantly and permanently hard any time it came near her. I gritted my teeth, feeling the longing in the pit of my gut mingling next to the feelings of my heart.

But then Leah wiggled a little against me, shifting herself around me, and any resistance I might have had crumbled away, because I had really, honestly missed her.

"Shit," Leah hissed, as I began to work her again.

"What?"

She arched her back, pressing her tits almost directly into my face so that I could taste them.

"I_ really_ missed your pussy cocaine."


	18. You Just Don't Phase Me Anymore

**Author Notes: **Yeah, I know, I'm totally full of fail lately. I meant to get an update out a lot sooner, but I went on a mini camping trip and had a few other things going on and keeping me busy. I'm going to try not to be so slow with the next chapter and those following. I really hope that my readers are still enjoying the fic, and I'm trying my absolute best to make each chapter as, or more, enjoyable than the last. Forgive me? =) And leave me a review to ease my apprehension. ;) Aside from that, thanks to those of you that followed the read along on Twitter, and welcome to the readers the read along brought to the fic. Speaking of Twitter, if you're interested in the progress of this fic (concerning when the next chapter will be out and such), follow me on Twitter. (restlessxpen) I find Twitter very amusing and sometimes abuse it by tweeting excessively. ;)

All right, to wrap this up, let me express that this chapter was somewhat difficult for me to churn out, so I hope, again, that you guys read and enjoy. Leave me reviews! They make me very happy and motivated to write more. Also, thanks to the BFFFers of Fanfic for pimping my fic in their blog a few days ago. To see what they had to say, check them out here: bffersoffanfic(dot)com

* * *

**LPOV **

"I don't know if I like this Jacob guy anymore."

From my vantage point on the couch, I could see Abram pouting where he sat, slumped down, in my recliner. My toes curled at the mention of Jacob, but Abram couldn't see them, as they were tucked into the crack between the cushions. It was an effort to keep my entire body from stiffening like a culprit caught in the act, but I arched one eyebrow like a master and kept my expression innocent.

"Why not?"

Like I needed the answer to that. There was no way that Abram hadn't felt the thick layer of tension between us after we'd returned from the bathroom—our own respective bathrooms, of course, certainly not from the _same_ bathroom.

At least, as far as everyone else was concerned.

Still, I had gotten the feeling that Abram had picked up on the serious fucking we'd done. It'd been like a physical presence between us, sizzling between Jake and me all through dinner. I'd eaten like a starving woman, my appetite renewed, and I'd been almost pleasant to Renesmee as my body had hummed with the satisfaction of being spent. Of course, Abram would notice how I'd gone from sulky to practically giddy, but I hadn't really given a shit at the time.

Now, I wished that I'd spent a little more time preparing myself with a decent lie.

"I don't know." Abram shrugged a restless shoulder. "He looks at you funny."

I almost laughed. _Looked _at me funny? That just didn't even begin to explain it. He could look at me any way that he wanted just as long as he never forced me into a stint of abstinence between us again. I was a whole new person after my meet and re-greet with his dick.

"He does not."

Abram shifted, scooting to sit up straight in his chair so that he could see me more clearly.

Ah, fuck. It was harder to appear innocent when someone was staring directly at you. My mouth kept wanting to do this funny twitch thing, like it was trying to smile at the memory of Jacob driving into me as the automatic air freshener on the wall above our heads had squirted a sickly flower scent into the bathroom. It couldn't mask the smell of some seriously sweet sex, try as its little plastic body might have.

I tucked myself into the recollection of Jacob's washboard body, the way it'd felt as I'd traced my fingers over his stomach just before we'd finally wrenched apart, knowing that we'd both spent too long in the bathroom for it to go unnoticed. I hadn't cared then, and I couldn't make myself care now. It was ridiculous, but I was addicted to Jacob, and I was starting to think that it was more than his pussy cocaine.

I even sort of felt myself missing him as I sat there, staring at Abram as he pouted back at me. It certainly wasn't healthy, that was for sure. It had gone from longing for his sausage and eggs to actually missing _him_.

"Don't tell me you don't notice," Abram argued. "Did you—Did you guys ever have a thing together?"

I nearly choked, hoping to God I wasn't going red in the face. Sure I'd known that Abram couldn't have been that oblivious, but I'd been hoping that I was wrong.

"No, I told you—"

Abram waved his hand. "I know, I know. He's sort of like the chief of the Quileute tribe. You guys hang out in the same group, but have you ever been with him outside of that?"

_Mmm, yeah, actually, I've been with him in a tent, on the washer, in my bed, in a public bathroom, in his car. Oh, and, let's not forget, on top of Sam's birthday cake._ Like I was going to fucking tell him that. He wanted to know about the past anyway. He didn't suspect, yet, that the tension he was sensing had been spawned by recent activities.

"I told you, Abe, my last relationship was with Sam. That's it. The great love story of my life," I said bitterly.

Abram flinched, and I realized my mistake. I could have bitten off my own tongue for having said it. It wasn't true anyway. Sam wasn't the great love story of my life. Once, I'd thought that he was, but now I wasn't so sure. _Now_, I was wondering if maybe Jacob was stepping into the role of leading male.

I had to be fucking crazy. I was sitting in my living room with Abram Adams, not Jacob Black. I was in a relationship with Abram—a public one. What I did with Jacob was anything but…established. A few one night stands didn't equate into a relationship, and I hadn't taken the steps to make it something more. In fact, I'd run away from those steps.

Maybe I was a tiny bit scared that we'd go and end up like each other's Bella and Sam. What if I caved to that need to be with him, and it blew up in my face? What then?

I could say goodbye forever to the best sex of my life, which was one thing. My velvet pocket would probably never be the same if it came down to that. I'd have to convert to Catholicism and become a nun. I didn't figure a man would ever be able to satisfy me again anyway, so why not swear them off completely?

"I see," Abram said, at length. "Where exactly are we going then, Leah?"

_No where, that's where_. The answer was on the tip of my tongue, and it surprised me. I almost said it out loud. I looked up at Abram, seeing him clearly. The pout on his face went deeper, meant something else than him just feeling neglected. It wasn't just a pout, it was a look in his eyes. I hadn't noticed it before, because I hadn't thought, all this time, that I would be caught.

But Abram had caught me. _Somehow_.

"What are you saying?"

"_You_ act different around _him_ too," Abram said.

I felt my face turn red for real this time. It was something I couldn't exactly cover up. Not with a careless laugh or the most innocent of expressions. The second's pause was all the evidence that Abram needed. My mouth wouldn't work with me. For some reason, it'd taken this moment to really suck at lying, and I had always been one of those people that had believed that lying was necessary in certain situations.

Like right now.

But I'd spent all this time pining for Jacob during our stint apart. I couldn't stop thinking about him then or now. I was hooked. Completely fucking hooked by my alpha wolf.

I took a breath, told myself to lie.

"I think I sort of love him."

Abram went completely pale.

What the hell? Had I actually just said that? I must have. It looked as if I'd punched Abram right in the face. I felt like I'd punched _myself_ in the face. Or the gut. I couldn't breathe all of a sudden with admission past my lips.

I didn't—I didn't love Jacob, did I?

I watched as Abram slowly pushed to his feet, still looking like he'd been socked in the nose. I had a feeling he was getting ready to leave, like I'd just said what would bring our relationship to a close with finality. Of course it would.

_I'd just blurted out that I was in love with Jacob. _

I hadn't even admitted that to myself yet. I wasn't even really sure if I _was_ in love.

"Are you leaving?"

Maybe I wasn't completely positive about Jacob, but as I sat there, knowing that Abram was headed for the door, I realized that I _was_ positive about him. I wasn't compelled to stop him from leaving. I really didn't give a damn. It'd been a great run, and I'd enjoyed being with him, but he was, I saw now, my obstacle in the way of Jacob.

"Stupid question," he answered.

I pressed to my feet, feeling stupid, just like my question. I didn't know what to do with my hands.

"Abram, I'm sorry. That wasn't really… what I meant to say."

"What were you trying to say then?"

I closed my eyes. "You're right. I do have feelings for him. It's not right for me to keep you in this relationship knowing that."

"Have you been fucking him?"

My eyes popped open. "No."

My stupid mouth finally decided to lie for me again, but it was a wasted effort. Abram's face scrunched up rather unattractively, and I could tell that he didn't believe me. Maybe my own expression, or the waver in my voice, had given me away.

"You're lying."

_Oh God, yes, I was_. It was such a big lie that I thought it might suffice as the one sin to send me straight to hell. I was lying big time in a big way. How many times had I fucked Jacob since Sam's birthday party? How many times had I been coated in his sweat and mine?

I opened my mouth, but I had no idea what I was going to say.

"Abram, no, I—"

Someone had the fucking gall to show up at my house and knock on my damn door at that exact second. Abram and I turned to look toward the hall at the same moment. I only registered confusion, having no idea who could be at my place this late at night, but Abram seemed to be on a level of higher awareness, and I thought I might have heard him growl.

"Bastard."

I made a face. "What?"

Abram was already headed for the door. I watched him go and then stumbled after him, wondering why the hell he'd taken it upon himself to greet my company. I mean, I'd just broken up with him, more or less. He had no further claims to my possessions.

And he really needed to concentrate on packing his bags and getting his shit out of my medicine cabinet.

I was so fucking dense. It didn't dawn on me who my guest could possibly be until Abram had taken the door knob and wrenched it open.

There stood every single glorious inch of Jacob Black on my porch. It was dark outside, but he was illuminated in the dim glow of my yellowed porch light. He must have lifted a hand to swat away the moths and gnats that hung close to the light and the door, swooping in on new, unexpected prey, because his hand was midair as he became framed in the light from inside of my house. He seemed surprised to see Abram at the door, as if he'd suspected that I'd ditched him the second we'd left the restaurant, so cock-hungry for his unit that I hadn't been able to stand another second with my boyfriend.

"Ah—Hey."

From where I stood behind Abram, I could see his hand tighten around the doorknob. His knuckles turned white. Jacob couldn't possibly have picked a worse time to show up for a booty call. I tried to catch his eye over Abram's shoulder, but I wasn't successful.

"What are you doing here?" Abram snapped.

Jake's dark brows lifted toward his hairline.

Not smart, Abe. Not smart at all. I could feel Abram's anger bouncing off him in waves, but he couldn't compare in size or strength to Jacob. I reached for Abram's arm, but he shook me off, shooting me a look over his shoulder that pretty much told me I had no right to touch him anymore.

"Excuse me?"

I could see the side of Abram's face, and I saw the way that he sneered.

"Haven't you had your fill around here yet?"

Jacob's eyes narrowed, and I felt my own anger flare. Now, hold the hell on here. What was that kind of talk? Like I was some sort of fucking floozy. I opened my mouth, suddenly bent on blurting out something along the lines of how Jacob's dick was like Godzilla compared to Abram's pencil. If he hadn't opened his fat mouth like that, maybe I would have been merciful and went with something more along the lines of comparing his rod to Mighty Mouse, but fuck that.

"What are you talking about, Adams?"

I could practically hear Abram grind his teeth.

"_You_ fucking my girlfriend, you steroid-induced bastard."

I saw the way Jacob's eyes lit up, and I knew that I had seen that look many times before. His element of control had snapped cleanly in half, and it was his one line gripping his human form and restraining his wolf one. The anger that Abram sparked in his one statement had such an obviously powerful impact on Jake that I was surprised he didn't phase right then and there, but I wasn't about to feel lucky yet. I could see that it was only seconds away. I could practically feel the tremors wracking Jake's body, and so could Abram. My new ex took a surprised step back.

"Abram," I hissed, "get out of here."

He was going to have to move his ass fast if I was to have any hope for saving it. Not that I owed him any favors at the moment. Well, maybe a couple. I _had_ dropped his deodorant in the toilet. Not to mention, I was pretty sure that he'd been sleeping his last few nights at my house with his head nestled on a pillow that might have had some of Jake's jizz on it from earlier forays.

I almost snickered but caught myself. It was really not the time or the place to gloat over the fact that Abram's whole face might have been planted in a sperm puddle at one point. Even though he did deserve it—at least a little—for his underhanded comment about me.

Still, what he deserved was a swift kick in the ass, not to be torn to shreds by Jake's wolf teeth. Of course, Abram had no idea about Jake's other form, and so he did not feel the imperative to leave a fight he'd only just started.

"I knew something had been going on all this time! And it was you, you asshole."

I figured that it was some skewered version of what guys called "man law" that made Abram think that he had every right to swing at Jake at that moment, but man law wasn't going to save his ass when Jake decided to have his wiry body for lunch.

Of course, I'd forgotten the code that mentioned, in no uncertain terms, that any guy had a right to slug another right in the face when he messed with his girl, and I didn't see Abram's right hook until it'd already swung out. By then, it was too late. As his fist connected with Jake's rock-hard body, there was a loud, unmistakable crack of breaking bones.

Abram's hand?

I winced, stepped forward, and saw that that right hook had been Jake's undoing.

_Uh-oh_.

"Get out of here!" I roared again.

But it was too late, and I knew it. Forcefully shoving Abram aside, I dove after him just as Jake's body began to twist and mutate, bones cracking and realigning, muscles tearing. I heard the sound of his clothes shredding at the seams, and I knew that we were in some seriously _deep_ shit.


	19. Don't You Miss the Cake?

**Author Notes: **Holy hell, right? xD Finally, an update! Yeah, I know, I'm totally lame. I used to be able to update so quickly, but, eh, what can you do, you know? Real life and yada, yada. I don't have a legitmate excuse for this taking so long, really, except that I had some serious writer's block halfway through the chapter. And then, I went to see Eclipse. Twice. What happened after that? Magic. I could drool all over Taylor's perfect physique all day long, and the few glimpses I got of Leah helped too. So, here we are, re-inspired and past that awful block. What's to come from here? FUN. Fun with cake. Yum! ;) Thanks for sticking around and being faithful to the cake, guys. You're all amazing, and I'll try to get responses up to all the replies this go around. Thanks SO much for reading. Inspire me to write more cake by leaving a review. 

**LPOV**

It turned out that Abram screamed like the scared little twat that he was. He released a pansy shriek as he hit the floor after I shoved him, when, a split second later, Jacob stood before us hunkered down on all four. I took a breath, reaching for Abram and dragging him to his feet.

"Jake!"

I lifted a hand as if to ward him off, but Jacob never listened to me, and he wouldn't start now, in the heat of anger. His snout peeled back, and a growl rippled through him that turned Abram's face as pale as the dead. He was paler than even the Cullen's, though tinged a little with green. I watched a tuft of hair stand up at the back of his neck, and I could tell by the way he crouched down that he wasn't going to hold back much longer.

Did man law dictate a right to maul a guy after he'd punched you? It didn't seem like a fair trade.

"What the—What the _fuck_?" Abram cried. "What the fuck is this, Leah? Holy shit. No way. No way!"

I wanted to curse at Jacob. How could he have been so stupid? He'd just phased right in front of Abram. He'd just blown our secret all to hell! Even I would never have been reckless enough to do that, and that was saying something. He was supposed to be our alpha, our leader that set the example, and now, here he was, letting his emotions get the best of him.

Though maybe it was sort of cute that he was defending me?

No! No, of course it wasn't! I didn't need all of this testosterone around me to make me feel wanted. I started to open my mouth to tell Jacob as much—maybe that'd bring him out of his macho, wolfish display—but I saw his leg muscles coil, watched him spring.

_Oh shit_.

I knew that, if I didn't intervene, Jacob would be on a straight, dangerous path to Abram's throat. Hissing out a breath, I sprang to meet him, tearing through my own clothes, mutating right in front of Abram's fragile human eyes. I was going to murder Jacob for this.

Catching him off guard, I knocked my alpha to the floor, rolling on top of him as a considerably sized grey wolf.

_"What the fuck are you doing?" _I demanded.

Jake's eyes were still full of fight_. "I'm going to murder your boyfriend."_

I saw a series of images play through Jacob's mind. Most involved a lot of blood all over my living room floor and the beaten remains of Abram Adams. The images went in and out between Jacob standing in wolf form and standing as a man, because he couldn't quite seem to decide which he'd rather be when he murdered Abram.

"Leah," I heard Abram whimper as he got an eyeful of what his ex-girlfriend really was.

I scowled inwardly at Jake, though I'd lingered inside of his head on the idea of him being a man, covered in blood, naked. His fantasies curved into my own, and they went from gruesome and filled with death to something very erotic. I erased Abram from the picture, imagined Jake and I both naked, my hand circling his shaft.

_"Leah,"_ Jacob growled, _"I'm trying to be angry here."_

_Oops_. My bad.

_"Maybe you should spend less time being angry and more time thinking about how you've just fucked us both, moron!"_

_"Well, then I'll just kill him now, and our secret will be safe."_

Not what I had in mind.

Jacob bucked underneath me, throwing me off, and I scrambled to catch him as he barreled toward Abram. As he jumped, I jumped, hearing Abram shriek as the poor guy stumbled backward, tripped, and flipped over the back of the couch. His clumsiness was a stroke of luck, because Jacob sailed right over the top of the couch, missing him completely, but landing right on top of my damn coffee table.

Glass shattered as Jacob came down on top of the centerpiece of my living room, and I followed.

_"That was expensive!"_ I hissed, as glass ground beneath us.

My mind went with his as he assessed his wounds. The dumb twat had gotten stabbed by a shard of glass near his tail. It wasn't too deep, and it only stung him a little, but he deserved more for this stupid, pointless macho display. I was so sick of testosterone I could vomit.

_"You know I like you on top, Leah, but not right now."_

He shook me off, pushing stubbornly to his paws. What an ass! How could he make such a sexual comment in the middle of a fight? Did he know what that did to my furry downstairs? And, fuck, it was weird being turned on in wolf form. I wanted to hump something.

I growled as Abram released another girlish shriek, scrambling the best that he could to get off of the couch and away from Jacob, who was going for him again. His face was white as death, his eyes bulged so far out of his head that I was just waiting for them to pop out and roll like marbles across the floor.

_"Damn it, Jacob, stop!" _

_"Not until I at least have the satisfaction of seeing him piss his pants. Did you hear how he talked about you?"_

_"I don't care! You can't murder him! We're not fucking vampires, asshole!"_

But Jacob wouldn't back down. With his head lowered, and his massive teeth bared, Jacob growled at Abram as the fur on the back of his neck rose. He was a seriously terrible sight, and I was surprised that Abram _didn't_ piss his pants right then. His bladder must have been empty or something, because he looked scared enough to faint.

I knew what I had to do, but I really hated being the valiant one, damn it.

I was pretty sure that Abram finally did relieve himself in his briefs as I phased back to human, though I didn't blame him. It _was_ a pretty messed up sight. I certainly knew that I still wasn't exactly comfortable seeing anyone I knew phasing between states. It made you feel a little bit looney tunes.

"Leah!" he wailed.

Phasing back was such a bitch. There was the naked factor, the part where my ass and tits were out for everyone to see, as if I didn't feel ridiculous enough. I was going to make Jacob pay for this. I hadn't planned to ever let Abram see me nude again. Not that he was enjoying it.

"Damn it," I hissed. "Back off, Jacob."

My alpha actually stopped, turning back to stare at me, surprised to suddenly hear my human voice. I flipped him the bird as I hurried past him toward Abram, who was somewhere between shitting bricks and having a full on asthma attack.

"Leah," he whined. "Help me."

Was he crying? What a total puss. At least I felt a little less awful about what I was about to do.

"Sorry, Abe."

I gripped the lip of a vase my mother had bought me last Christmas with both hands and told myself not to think about it as I swung it at Abram's head.

"Blast off," I grumbled, as the vase thumped him, and Abram released a horrible groan and collapsed on the floor.

"Hey! Why'd you do that?"

I let the vase drop to the floor where it rolled away from me, and I turned to find Jacob, naked, and glaring at me. I really wanted to hate him for this. He was the alpha! He was supposed to know better! We couldn't just phase in front of humans! Especially ones that I had just dumped, who no longer felt like they owed me enough to keep their mouths shut about my secrets.

But it was awfully damn hard to hate Jacob when he was naked.

"Can you put a fucking shirt on?"

_Don't look at his dick, Leah. Bad things will happen if you look at his dick. _

Oh Christ, that Victory V that started at his hips and dove down to meet at his cock was hard not to follow. I wanted to trail my tongue down it. I wanted to hear Jacob groan as I did, wanted to know that he wanted me as much as I wanted him, even though I should have been pissed as hell and blackening at least one of his dark eyes. He'd broken my damn coffee table, phased right in front of a human.

"What's the point? As soon as he wakes up, I'm going to phase again and kill him."

"The fuck you are! When he wakes up, we're both going to do our damn best to make him think he was hallucinating! We can't do that if we're naked."

"Why won't you let me kill him?"

"Why do you want to so badly?"

"Because he's fucking you too, and he just… he said all that shit about you."

"He's not fucking me anymore."

This made Jacob stumble. "What?"

"I just dumped him, moron. You walked in on him scooting his ass out of here."

This perked Jacob up considerably. "Really?"

"Yeah," I mumbled, distracted by how he was now advancing on me.

As if I was going to let him get anywhere near enough to touch me. Didn't he understand that I was angry with him? That I had every damn right to be angry at him? Maybe he'd acted like an ass in an effort to stand up for me, but I wasn't impressed. There were better ways to get even with Abe's smart mouth. For instance, we could have had some hot, sweaty sex and laughed at him as we rolled together in the sheets.

He trailed his hand down my shoulder, and I jerked away.

"Buzz off, assface. I'm not in the mood."

"You know, I think I like it best when you're a bitch to me."

"Yeah? Well, touch me again, and you're going to see a bitch. I don't have time to mess around. I've got to figure out how to fix your mistake."

"You dumped him for me?"

I rolled my shoulders. "Yeah. So?"

Jacob grinned. "So, I'll fix this."

()()()()()()()()()()

**JPOV**

"Jacob."

Leah's hand was smooth and warm against my chest, as she flattened her palm against me. Christ, I'd missed her touch. Our bathroom rendezvous had been anything but good enough to quench my thirst for her. I hadn't known what I'd had in mind when I'd headed toward her house tonight. I hadn't given it much thought, much planning. My only goal was to get to her house, to get myself _into_ her house, and to prove to her that she didn't need Abram Adams. She needed me.

But, once again, Leah had beaten me to the punch. Unfortunately, I hadn't known that before I'd done something really stupid and phased in front of Abram. Though I couldn't honestly say whether or not I wouldn't have made the same choice knowing that she had already broken up with him. What he'd implied was anything but polite, and I thought that I was fairly justified in trying to protect Leah's virtue.

I wanted all of that virtue for myself.

My goal for Leah was still the same: convince her that she loved me, wanted to be with me on more than a physical level. It would remain my goal too, but, for the moment, she was looking very sexy frazzled and naked, and though it pissed me off that she'd ruined my attempt to get even with Abram, she'd looked damn appetizing when she'd wielded that vase and thumped him on the head.

Woman after my own heart.

For the moment, all I wanted to do was touch her, to physically celebrate her ended relationship with Abram.

When I reached for her, she shuddered. As I cupped her breast, she slapped my hand away.

"Jacob, wait."

"Wait for what?"

"We need to talk."

I let my hand drop to my side. What was the sensation curling up my spine? Desperation? Exasperation? Both, I thought. What the hell was wrong with Leah Clearwater? All I had wanted to do for weeks was talk, and now, when I just wanted to have a nice, sweaty fuck, _she_ wanted to talk.

Someone up there really hated me, _really_ wanted to torture me.

"Jake, I—"

She lifted her hands. They fluttered in the air for a moment before she clasped them together and dropped them. I tried not to watch them fall, because they hung somewhere near her waist, and, well, she was still naked. If she wanted to talk, it wouldn't help to have a raging boner.

"Yeah?"

Leah was never at a loss for words. I frowned. She usually had too much to say, and it was always something sarcastic and biting. For the briefest of seconds, Leah actually looked vulnerable standing there, unsure of herself. It was strange to see that glimpse of her. She had always had a spine of steel. It almost made me want to draw her into my arms and comfort her, but that probably would have been rebuffed. Leah never needed a shoulder.

She opened her mouth.

"What?" I prodded.

"I—I broke up with Abram."

I quirked a brow. "Yeah? We already established that."

"I told him it was because—because I think that I love you."

"_What_?"

Someone had pulled the rug out from underneath my feet with one, quick tug. I felt like I was flat on my back, staring up at the ceiling, wondering what the hell I was supposed to do next. Had Leah actually just said that she _loved_ me? I had to have been hallucinating. No way Leah just fessed up to her feelings. She simply wasn't capable of displaying her emotions, and she'd been fighting against the ones she felt for me since the beginning.

And now I was supposed to believe that she'd even told Abram—straight to his face—that she loved me?

_Thought_ she loved me. Nothing concrete yet. No real commitment there. She wouldn't let herself be that vulnerable, but still, she'd said it, right?

I was hot all over for reasons that had nothing to do with being a werewolf. The heat pooled in the pit of my stomach and rose up my spine. My heart was thumping a little too hard, a little too fast, a little too loud. I opened my mouth to say something else, but nothing else would come out. I forget how to form speech. It took me back to a time when I'd attempted to get Bella Swan to admit that she loved me. The confession of that truth had been as painful, but it had crashed and burned and faded out. They'd been empty words that couldn't change the facts of our lives.

Would Leah's confession end up being as disappointing?

"Look, I don't know exactly what that means yet, okay? It—It's weird. I need some time to figure it out."

All signs point to yes, I thought. How much time could one person possibly need to realize that they'd met their soul mate? Maybe we hadn't imprinted, but we were right for each other, and I knew it. I wasn't afraid to admit it, even though I knew how fucking weird it was too. Leah and I had been polar opposites all of our lives, but something had finally clicked, something had changed.

"Leah—"

She lifted her hands, tried to wave me off. "Jake, just wait, okay?"  
Fuck waiting. "Leah, I'm in love with you."

She looked like she might have swallowed her own tongue. It wasn't exactly how I wanted to go about telling her. I had planned things a little differently, but, since she'd sprung the whole thing on me first, it was all I could do to react. I watched the emotions playing across her face and knew that I should have chosen differently, but it was too late now, and she might as well know.

As if it had ever been that hard to guess.

"But… Renessmee?"

"Renesmee was a joke. It was all pretend, Leah, to make you jealous."

"You asshole," she growled.

I knew that she'd be pissed to know the truth, but I didn't really care about that at the moment. At least what had been between Renesmee and I had been pretend. She had no idea how it felt to have had to look at her and Abram and know that it was at least somewhat real.

Not real like _us_, but real enough for her to share her bed with him.

"It doesn't matter. I love you."

Her face looked a little red. Her lips parted, and Abram groaned from where he lay in the floor. Leah looked down at him automatically.

"Shit," she hissed.

I shared the same sentiment. Perfectly awful timing on his part, but I really didn't care about him at this point. He was an obstacle I'd already overcome.

"We have to get dressed."

I smirked. "Yeah, sure, but I sort of ripped my clothes in half a few minutes ago."

"Damn it!" Leah snapped, as Abram groaned again.

He was starting to surface, and the passing seconds were putting Leah on edge. I started to step forward, but Leah brushed past me. I turned to follow her, and she threw a throw blanket in my face. Why couldn't I ever be a step ahead of her?

"Cover yourself up!"

I scowled. She was already wrapping another blanket around herself.

"Now!" she ordered.

Abram Adams could go to tell hell for all I cared, but Leah's evident distress had me wrapping the blanket around my waist. Probably for the best. It would be a pretty hard blow for Abram, not only getting broken up with, but seeing how poorly he'd measured up in the pleasure stick department.

She hurried back to my side as Abram released a pitiful series of other groans and started to sit up. He blinked slowly, like a drunk, turning his head from side to side as if he wasn't quite sure where he was. I would have been surprised if he had recalled everything with perfect clarity. Leah had hit him pretty hard with that vase.

After a few minutes of confusion, Abram finally managed to focus on Leah.

"Leah?" he mumbled, brokenly trying to get to his feet. "Leah, what happened?"

I frowned, but Leah stepped forward anyway, taking Abram by the arm and helping him up. Once on his feet, Abram gave her a closer look, obviously unsure about the fact that a blanket was the only thing covering her up. I could imagine that he was wondering where her clothes were, and, then, where mine were, as he glanced my way.

"Abram, I—" Leah stumbled a bit with her excuse.

I saw her rehearsing her ideas quickly in her head, one hand still tucked underneath Abram's arm. I would have immensely preferred it if she hadn't touched him at all.

"Abram, I'm sorry. I should have told you this sooner, but I've been seeing Jacob."

"You've _what_?"

"He was here with me tonight, and you walked in on us, don't you remember? You—uh—said some things that weren't very nice, and Jacob sort of knocked you out."

Well, at least she gave me a nice part in her lie. I could definitely let Abram go on believing that I was the one that had knocked him off his feet, not that I hadn't given it my best attempt. I watched Abram lift a careful hand to the side of his head. His eyes widened as he felt the size of the whelp there. He looked at me then, wary and still a little flustered. I expected him to be pissed, but he didn't look like he was quite up to getting revenge.

"I—I had the weirdest dream. He—" Abram paused, and I could imagine the big, rust-colored wolf he was imagining.

He seemed to think it was as ridiculous a concept as his puny mortal brain must have thought. It was beyond his capacity to believe the something like me could have existed. He looked at Leah.

"So, this is what it is then?"

Leah nodded slowly. "Yes."

Abram wavered, frowned. "I guess I should go then."

"Yes," Leah said again.

"All right." He looked so awkward, I almost felt bad for the guy. "See you then, I guess."

I watched him as he stumbled a bit to get away from us. The expression on his face looked a lot like he'd seen the monster underneath his bed and was desperate to get away from it. I smirked after he'd passed me, at least allowing him the dignity to get the hell out before I laughed in his face. Leah didn't follow him as he went, but, as the door closed behind him, she looked pointedly at me.

"What?"

"I need a little privacy for the night."

_Here we go again_.

"We need to talk, Leah."

She nodded, wearily. "I know. We will. Just give me tonight, okay? It's been too adventurous today for me to handle anymore."

With a great deal of reluctance, I shrugged.

"Okay, sure. Tomorrow then."

She looked like she wanted to turn me down.

"Tomorrow," I said, firmer. "I'll swing by and pick you up. We're going to talk."

"Fine. Sure. Great. Now, just go, okay?"

"Fine. I'm taking this blanket with me. I'll give it back tomorrow. See you, Leah."

She nodded, wordlessly, so I left, but I promised myself that it'd be the last damn time that she put me off.


	20. Like Driftwood

**Author Notes: **So, yeah, my fiance and I set a date to get married, and things have been sort of hectic. My friends are flipping out as much as I am, and I've been preoccupied with wedding stuff. It's been pretty amazing actually and seems quite surreal. So, sorry for making you wait, again, for another chapter, but hopefully it makes up for the time you had to go wondering what would happen next. Let me just say, I love this story, and I'm going to see it through to the end, so, even though it has been taking me some time to update, know that it's going to keep going strong 'til the end. You guys have been absolutely amazing. Every review makes me smile, makes my ego expand just a little wider. ;P

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**LPOV**

"These are the best. You should get them. They work every time."

Almost twenty-four hours previous, I had submitted myself to a severe level of mortification. I had came right out and told Jacob that I loved him, that I thought I did, anyway, but wasn't that just the same? I'd made myself vulnerable like I hadn't done in years, and now I was feeling that vulnerability like I was walking around with a bulls-eye on my heart. There was only one way to remedy this, and it called for a strong mix of confidence and distraction.

I had to be confident and strong to show that admitting to Jacob that I had horrible, awful sticky feelings for him wasn't going to make me weak. Weak in the fucking knees like I knew that I was. They hadn't stopped wobbling since the confession, no matter how hard I tried to lock them underneath me. I'd told him I'd loved him. It wasn't like I'd asked him to marry me, for fuck's sake. Why couldn't I pull it together?

Not a clue, but it was the exact reason that I was going for the distraction route. If I kept Jacob's mind off the lovey-dovey mess that I'd created, I could avoid having to deal with discussing our feelings. I wasn't ready for that. I'd _never_ be ready for that. I just didn't talk about my feelings. I wasn't that type of girl.

"Thanks," I managed, feeling sick.

I picked up the pair of undies she'd designated from the pile on the table. If they could be called underwear at all. Stretching them long ways, I wondered which side was the front and which was the back. Hardly any cloth, just a lot of string. Might as well be naked than toss out fifteen bucks for something that barely existed.

"Cute," I appeased the girl by commending her decision, "but I think I'm going this route."

I replaced the underwear and turned toward the opposite wall where slim, black boxes were hanging, each volunteering a picture of a scantily clad, beautiful model in a different outfit. Did I want to be a doctor, a police officer, a school teacher, or a…_cat_?

Yeah, like I was going to put on that striped suit and prance around with ears and a tail.

"Oh, your guy's into animals."

What the fuck?

"Nah, he just likes to hear me purr."

If he wanted me to dress up like an animal, I could just as easily phase and not waste any money on an outfit. I spared her a glance, wishing she'd buzz off. For an adult store, I thought that they'd afford their customers a little more privacy. I wasn't one to get antsy about people knowing that I was a very sexual creature, but I also wasn't one to enjoy being crowded. It was hard enough to think straight—had I really told him I loved him?—and I needed to concentrate on picking just the right outfit. That way, I could slip into it, and he would forget all about talking about our feelings.

The woman finally took the hint. "If you want to see any of these out of the box, just let me know."

I nodded, distracted, and she wandered off. Did I want to go with simple and sexy or bordering outrageous? How did Jacob Black feel about playing dress up? Had he ever role played in his life? I wondered how well he'd take to being handcuffed, losing all the control to me. Just thinking about it made my mouth run dry. Naked, muscled, angry.

If I really loved him, and he really loved me, and this really worked out, I could have that glorious body all to myself forever.

_Filing that away as things to think about later, in private_. This was no place to soak my panties. The poor, ugly sap rummaging through the porn collection would probably explode in his pants at the sight of a real vagina in action, and then there would just be problems for everyone.

So that just left one question: Did Jake want to be educated or arrested?

The handcuffs were sorely tempting, but I had the tendency to try for dominance, and maybe it was the sexy helpless act that Jacob liked more. He had gone after Bella Swan, after all, and I had the dick the size of a walrus if she wasn't the biggest fucking damsel in distress to ever walk the face of the Earth. A ploy for innocence, inexperience, and vulnerability might have been in my best interest anyway, considering I didn't want Jacob to get the idea that I was trying to manipulate him away from talking about the gigantic disaster that had happened in my house the night before.

I was going to take the liberty of boxing up all of Abram's junk after mine and Jake's scheduled talk, and I would mail it all to Abe so that he never had to return to La Push again. I could only imagine how the poor chump must have felt as memories of the night started to surface. He would be remembering a werewolf and a conk to the head, not walking in on Jake and me messing around. He would want to believe the excuse that I had given him, but he would have no recollection of any such thing. He would probably be feeling a little crazy, a little scared.

I owed it to him to alleviate some of that anxiety by affording him the chance not to have to see me again. When it was all said and done, I had spent a good portion of time with Abram, and most of those memories had been happy ones. He'd helped me start the climb out of the hole I'd dug after Sam, and I owed him a little more kindness and gratitude than I had been showing him. It wasn't his fault that I was fuck-nuts about Jacob Black, that all I had all but imprinted on the person I had felt would be least likely for me to take a second look at.

And why hadn't I taken that second look sooner? It seemed like a treasure had been right underneath my nose my entire life, and I'd been completely oblivious. But, then again, I had had the whole "Sam" thing, and he'd had the whole "Bella" ordeal. Our paths had been too twisted to cross any sooner.

Fucking bitch, what was with that strange ache around my heart? I rubbed my knuckles against my chest. An Adult Store was nowhere to have an emotional come-apart. Maybe I was in love with Jacob, but I'd find a way to deal with it. I wasn't going to get sappy here.

"School teacher, police officer, nurse, or—" I scowled, muttering under my breath. "No, fuck that. Not a cat."

I didn't like needles or hospitals, and the nurse thing was way overdone. That left only the school teacher option, because a police officer was too heavily associated with the power of authority. I could twist my hair into pigtails for the school teacher and pretend that I had no idea what a degree was. Or maybe I could be the student, and Jacob could be the teacher.

_Teach me how to purr my ABC's_.

The shirt was nothing more than a white cloth strap, the skirt was barely long enough to cover my twat and ass, and the suspenders and tie were cute. As far as I knew, Jacob had nothing against the color blue, and the plaid design made it even more geeky and sexy. I pulled the box off the rack and took my loot to cash out. Jacob would be turning up at my house soon, and I was going to have to find a pack to carry the outfit in. He'd said that he would be swinging by to pick me up, and I didn't mind taking the show I had planned for him on the road.

I could do sexy anywhere.

()()()()()()()()()()

**LPOV**

The beach was cooling down by the time that we got there. We'd left our shoes in the Rabbit, but I'd insisted on bringing my little backpack with me, though I'd kept Jacob in the dark about its contents. He was moody, distant. It pissed me off. I'd expected to him to be all over me now that I'd professed my love like some busty heroine in a bad film.

_I_ think_ I'm in love with you_? I couldn't have done it any worse than that. It was bad enough that I had admitted it at all. Now, Jacob had me right where he'd wanted me. The "L" word had made it passed my lips, and there was no turning back. Not that loving Jacob would turn out to be a bad thing. It was what he had claimed to want, and so now maybe we could both be satisfied.

"Where are we going, Jake?"

First Beach looked seriously lonely at the moment. It wasn't often occupied at this time of the year, but the way the sun was setting, and the way the clouds were so gray, and the way that the ocean was rolling in so sadly, it was a mood killer. The perky outfit tucked into my pack seemed out of place here, and that strange ache around my heart was threatening to return. The breeze was chilled. I cupped my elbows and hugged myself as Jacob led us across the beach. Even the sand was cold and lonely underneath my feet.

"Just a little further."

He was too serious. It messed with my mood. It made _me_ serious and quiet. I didn't like it. I felt like a different person, like both of us were different people, trapped in a horribly lonely scene. Sort of like we couldn't reach out to each other, didn't know how to.

Was it because I had told him that I loved him? It was a stupid admittance of the truth. It should never have happened, but it was there now, and we both knew. I couldn't swallow my words, even if it hurt to see how he was reacting to them. I couldn't figure out why either. Hadn't he been the one who'd been an asshole about having real feelings and being in a real relationship? Hadn't he faked dating Renesmee Cullen just to get me to confess that I needed him?

Maybe my love wasn't all that it was cracked up to be.

I trailed along behind him, dragging my feet in the sand. Whatever talk was coming now, I didn't want to hear it. It seemed like it could only be bad news in a place like this. As if to confirm my beliefs, a splash of rain plunked against the end of my nose. I glanced skyward as it started to sprinkle, but Jacob didn't seem to notice. The gray clouds were finally tired of holding back the rain, releasing it as the last tendrils of sunlight curled above the horizon.

Something swelled in my throat, but I couldn't explain the need to cry.

Jacob came to a stop, and I nearly ran into him. He'd taken us to a secluded part of the beach that was occupied less often than the other places. It was devoid of very many tracks and wasn't the best place for children to play. Driftwood had floated ashore, and the sand was rough with jagged shards of shells.

"What is this?"

Jacob turned to me, his face dark with something I couldn't define in the dying light and the thin drizzle of rain. His features looked strained and apprehensive, like he wasn't quite sure of himself but was trying to prove otherwise.

"Just… help me, okay? I've got something to prove."

I glanced around us, but we were alone. Just Jake, my pack and sexy outfit, and myself.

Oh, and the driftwood.

"What's that?"

I could see him wavering again. He glanced toward the nearly-gone sunset. It felt colder out than it had moments before.

"We're meant to be together."

It was stupid to feel butterflies in my stomach. I didn't believe in butterflies. I didn't believe in the way that my heart leapt to my throat, the way my legs felt weak. I didn't believe in the voice inside my head that was thrilled to hear him say something as serious as that. Meant to be together? I thought we'd both agreed not to dare to go there together.

We were the secondary characters in the play where we mingled. There was no love to be had.

"Uh—yeah, okay. What, is this log my competition or something?"

_Hello, sarcasm, my old friend. _

Jacob glanced at the long chunk of driftwood he'd led me to. "Don't be stupid."

"Jake, do you have a hard-on for this piece of wood?"

"Fuck off, Leah. Just be here. With me."

_Goosebumps? Seriously, Leah? Get a hold of yourself. _

It was just cold. That was all. The sun was gone, and it was raining, and there was that breeze coming in off the ocean. The sand was cold underneath my feet, and my shorts and t-shirt were hardly a barrier. The solitude of the beach could even make a werewolf cold. It was logical.

"Jacob, I don't—"

He stepped forward, wrapped his arms around me, pulled me close. It was hard to say if he'd ever done anything more intimate than holding me like that, tucked against his chest, shielding me from the loneliness of the cold and rainy beach. He was warm all over. He felt safe, like home.

He was Jacob Black, and I was in fucking love with him.

"What's in the bag?" he asked, for the third time since he'd picked me up.

It seemed like a very flimsy shield to me now. He'd breeched my fortress successfully, and I was more the damsel in distress than any outfit could ever make me. I shrugged and tucked my face into the crook of his neck.

"See for yourself."

His long arms gave him easy reach to the pack, and he continued to hold me as he worked the zipper open and took a peek inside. A few seconds went by before I could register any sort of reaction from him.

"What's this?"

"What do you think?"

He laughed. I should have kneed him for it, but it was warm and comforting as it rolled across me and drifted out across the beach. I'd let him have his laugh if he would just keep holding me like this.

"You were going to dress up for me?"

"It's a sexy school girl. I was going to let you educate me, though you are obviously the one of inferior intellect in this relationship."

Jacob paused. "Relationship?"

"Yeah," I growled, knowing that it was no use. "_Relationship_."

He pulled back enough to look down at me, a small something at the corner of his mouth that was most likely curving toward a grin. Bastard. He had me cornered, and I was giving up without a fight, for once. I'd tried fighting before, and look where that had gotten me: a broken coffee table.

"You owe me a coffee table."

The kiss he used to shut me up was something special. Slow and soft, it wasn't much about getting, but a lot about giving. I had a feeling he was purposely trying to make me go weak in the knees now, and it worked. They felt like jell-o and practically folded underneath me. Jacob followed me down, laying me out across the sand all gentle and careful. I felt like porcelain, which was absurd, and it was embarrassing. I wanted to object as heat and color rose to my face, but Jacob shook his head and started to undress me.  
"I knew you couldn't hold out forever."

"Don't push your luck."

He was sliding off my shorts and underwear. The sand was cold and almost slick underneath me.

"I can't believe you almost picked that moron over me."

I wanted to be indignant, but his calloused hands were damn sexy as they trailed down my legs.

"Shut your pie hole, Renesmee Cullen. You fucking kissed that leach."

"_She_ kissed _me_."

"_You_ opened your mouth."

"Why don't you shut yours for once?"

I tried to kick him, but his hands closed around my ankles and held my feet down and away from his precious jewels. It would have been a shame to have damaged them anyway. I might never have forgiven myself for bruising the fruit. I reached for him, but he pushed me back.

"Jake, you don't have to be so gentle with me."

He quirked a brow. "It's not always about fucking, you know. Sometimes it's better. Cool your jets, Clearwater. I'm getting there."

Oh yes, I could see the mountain rising in his pants. How glorious. Perfect day for climbing—or riding—a mountain. A raindrop plopped into my eye, and I growled in protest, brushing it away. Maybe not the perfect day, but perfect _enough_. Any day with Jacob had the potentiality for perfection, as fucking lame as that sounded. Not to mention, he looked kind of sexy getting all wet like that, his dark hair matted to his head.

He had the most perfect mouth. I wanted to lick at the beads of rain spilling over his bottom lip.

Jacob knelt between my legs, and I forgot about raindrops or storm clouds or cold sand. He worked his pants down. Somewhere on Mount Olympus, Zeus was crying little, godly tears of jealousy. I could feel the warmth of his skin as it pressed into mine, as his tip neared my vault with his name on it.

"Leah?"

"Yeah?"

His face was all serious again. "I love you."

Butterflies, heart in my throat. Good thing it was raining, because I was going to fucking cry as Jacob made love to me on the beach next to the driftwood that had found its way onto the sand and could no longer set sail again.

But that was all right, because it belonged there. Whatever Jacob had to prove, I was proving something too.

* * *

**Author Notes:** I had several requests to use the driftwood on First Beach, and I finally found a way to incorporate it into the story. Yay! And sorry to all of you who waited so long to see it show up in a chapter. ;) But I think this moment is suiting, yeah?


	21. Icing on the Cake

**Author Notes: **So, my senior year in college is fast approaching (two weeks!), and that means I'm going to be mega busy, particularly because I'm going to be applying for the master's program. However, like I've said before, this story is like my baby! I'm not going to leave it unfinished. Yes, it might take me some time to get updates out, but they will come out, and this story will be completed. I promise! Don't give up on me! If you want to know what's going on, you should follow me on twitter. ;)

* * *

**JPOV**

I stood on the doorstep of the Cullen house, inhaling faint whiffs of the dead. The sky was overcast, a drizzling of rain pattering on the sidewalk that led up to the door. The air was warm and trapped like the heat of a sauna. It rolled off the exposed skin of my forearms like heavy, moist kisses. I raised my hand to knock, but I couldn't seem to complete the movement to bring my knuckles down on the wood. All of my loose ends led to this house, and it took courage to show up here to tie them off, to know that I was leaving them behind.

Leah had told me that she loved me. In so many words, movements, gestures—without even saying it she had told me in a way that was all Leah. She hadn't thought that I'd noticed the tears in her eyes, or that goofy smile, or the way that she had—for once—given me the reigns. Nothing in her had resisted me the day before, and that had spelled victory.

What did that mean for me? It meant that the relationship had tried so hard to weasel out of her was now mine for the taking. As bizarre as it sounded to think of Leah and I as a couple, it was what I wanted. Maybe we were a strange pair. Maybe everyone would think that we were doomed from the start. But what the hell did I care about that? I'd suffered heartache before for loving a girl that would never love me back. Facing the prospect of heartache wasn't as bad now that I was going into it knowing that Leah loved me back. Maybe she was my Bella, and I was her Sam, and the two of us had only been too stubborn to realize it before now. We'd set our sights on the soul mates of other people, and we had neglected our own.

I rapped my knuckles against the wooden door. It was better to get this over, to close this book so that I could pursue the beginning of another.

When Bella opened the door, I wasn't prepared for the subtle sock to the gut. I had hoped that Renesmee would have answered, that I could have eased myself into seeing Bella slowly. This would be the hardest loose end to tie, because I had never figured out how to get over her. I'd spent all of these years pining hopelessly after her, swearing off love in her name. I'd thought that Bella Swan had been for me, and some tragic twist of fate had landed her with Edward instead, meant to make me suffer for the rest of my life.

As we stood there, wordlessly staring at one another, I looked at the woman she had become: A wife, a mother, and a vampire. The smell in the air was of vampire, all traces of the old Bella gone and replaced by a new, peculiar scent that I still couldn't get used to. Her cheeks, which had once been constantly brushed with red, were pale and smooth. Her eyes were no longer chocolate brown and warm when they looked at me. She was Edward's Bella, and I was only ever going to be just her friend.

"Jacob."

I didn't wince when she said my name, but I could feel it sing through my bones in an almost painful sort of way. Even her voice was different, and all these years that had past had done little to allow me to acclimate myself to it.

"Is Renesmee here?"

I knew that she was. I could smell the faint wisp of strawberry that had become her signature. I wondered if it was something she'd modeled after Bella, or if it was something that was an unconscious, shared trait between them. Maybe it was all me. Maybe my brain just linked everything about Bella to strawberries from one of the few times she'd let me close, and I'd smelled it in her hair.

"Jacob, Nessie told me what you two were doing."

I stared at her, surprised, and, for a moment, confused. _What were we doing_? Oh yeah, we were pretending that we were a couple, and I'd completely forgotten about it until that moment. Leah had started to consume a good portion of my brain. Bella folded her arms across her chest, and I felt like I was her child, being scolded. It was strange to think how quickly she'd matured. She seemed ancient already.

"You don't have to tell me. I know that it was wrong. I'm here to fix it."

"Fix it how?"

"By ending it. I should have never asked her to do something like that."

Bella made a face that I didn't understand, like me breaking off mine and her daughter's fake relationship was not what she wanted. This was funny, because I had expected her to be happy that I'd decided to stop playing charades and subjecting her daughter to mine and Leah's problems.

"Sometimes, I really wonder about you, Jake. You get ideas into your head, and you don't see other people's feelings anymore. It's all just what you imagine it to be."

She was frowning, and, I had a feeling, referencing something that had happened between us a long time ago. It made me uneasy, considering how very little Bella ever made reference to our past. Her even acknowledging that it had happened was kind of amazing. But she was still Bella Cullen, still a mother, an ancient vampire already, and trying to scold me. Scold me for something that she didn't understand.

"I'm in love with Leah."

If I had blinked, I might not have noticed the way that Bella's eyes seemed to widen just a fraction, displaying a brief flash of surprise before she recovered.

"You're—_What_? In love with…?"

"Mom, is that Jacob?"

Bella jolted slightly, stepping back as Renesmee edged her way into the small space of the doorway. She offered me a small smile, as if to apologize.

"Come to chat?"

I nodded, dumbly. "Yeah."

"Let's go for a walk."

Renesmee didn't look back at Bella as she stepped outside, past me, and led the way down the sidewalk. I hurried to follow after her, even though I _did_ get a look at Bella's face, feeling slightly apprehensive about the way that she seemed to be glaring at me. I was glad that Renesmee kept a fast pace, and we were far enough down her driveway to be out of Bella's sight within a few minutes.

It wasn't until we were that Renesmee finally slowed her pace and spoke to me.

"So, you're in love with her?"

"No," I answered, automatically. "I don't think so. Not anymore."

For some reason, I was still thinking about Bella, and the way that she seemed so different standing there in the doorway. It was as if I'd been offered one last wake up call, and I'd finally decided to open my eyes. The Bella Swan that I had loved was gone. She'd floated away from me, like driftwood on the beach, and I was finally figuring out how to move on.

Renesmee paused and looked up at me, her brows drawn together.

"But you just said—I heard you tell my mother."

I could have kicked myself. "Oh. Oh yeah—Leah. Yes. Yes, I'm in love with her."

Renesmee's brows were still drawn. She glanced back toward her own house, as if she knew who I'd actually been talking about.

"And she loves you too now?" Renesmee's question came out slowly, her lips puckering a little as she looked away from her house.

"Yeah. Yes, she does."

"She told you?"

"Yes."

More than that, but how could I explain something like that to Renesmee? It was way too intimate, and she probably wouldn't have cared much to have heard it anyway. The point was that our game of charades had succeeded. I'd made Leah find her way back to me, convinced her to tell me how she really felt.

"Good." Renesmee came to an abrupt stop, turning back to face me. "Good. I'm glad. Happy for you."

I nearly ran right over the top of her, not having expected her to stop walking. The way she was looking up at me was unnerving. Her expression was determined and slightly hard. She seemed so serious with her mouth puckered, her brows drawn. It was like she was really looking at me—studying every detail so thoroughly that she must have been mapping me out.

"Ah—thanks."

All at once, her expression changed, the hard lines of concentration on her brow going soft, her mouth relaxing as well. Her eyes recovered, becoming warm again. She smiled up at me, laughing a little.

"You're welcome. I guess I did have a hand in it, didn't I?"

"Sure. Sure, you did."

I was still recovering from the mood swing.

"Yeah. You know, it's funny. I thought that, maybe if the whole Leah thing didn't work out, you and I would end up together."

I nearly choked. "What?"

Renesmee laughed. "Don't look at me like that. I thought maybe it might be fate, that maybe you picked me as a fake girlfriend, but we'd end up together. Silly, huh?"

I didn't really know how to answer. I hadn't expected the conversation to take this shift in direction once I'd told Renesmee that I was in love with Leah. Our entire mission had been to bring Leah and me together, our entire purpose of ever being together. For some reason, I thought of the fake kiss we'd shared in the restaurant, how, for a second, it'd felt so real.

I felt heat gathering in my face as I stared at Renesmee Cullen: a perfect reincarnation of her mother, save for the bronze hair. She was all Bella: beautiful, sweet, soft-looking. She smelled like Bella, made similar facial expressions, unnerved me like Bella could.

I felt the solitude of the empty driveway, the way that we were the only two people around.

"Yeah, silly," I croaked.

Abruptly, her face became serious. "You've really never felt it?"

"Felt what?"

"The way that something feels different, but right. The way it feels like we just barely missed each other? You never get that crazy feeling in the pit of your stomach like we were meant to be together? Like we should have been fate?"

"I don't believe in fate," I hedged.

Hedged, because I _had_ felt it, if only for a brief moment in the Cullen's living room during a meeting with Carlisle, when she'd stepped into the room, and I'd smelled strawberries. I'd felt it then, and maybe a few other times, maybe even right now as she stood there and looked at me just like Bella would have when she was being stubborn. There was a strange curling in the pit of my stomach, and I regretted having come to the Cullen's house.

Fate didn't exist. If it had, I would have ended up with Bella. There was no such thing as fate, only choices, and I had made a choice. I had chosen Leah.

"You're lying."

"I really don't believe in it," I insisted.

"No," Renesmee said, exasperated. "No, you're lying about not feeling that feeling, like maybe we were meant for each other, but something about our fates altered."

"No, I'm not."

"Jacob, every time you lie, you squint a little."

"Now you're being ridiculous."

I wanted to get away from there. I'd come to tie up loose ends, not create more. Whatever Renesmee was talking about was a figment of her own imagination. I was done with the Swan lineage. Leah Clearwater was who I wanted, not the spawn of what had once been the love of my life and the one she'd chosen instead of me.

"Jacob."

"I'll see you later, Renesmee. I've got to go."

I started to step around her, but she reached out to me. Her hand closed around my wrist, and an explosion of color burst inside of my skull. I stumbled back a step, closing my eyes as everything spun. _Stupid thing to do_. The second my eyelids were closed, a mini movie theater spun to life inside my head.

We were in the restaurant, sitting side-by-side, but I didn't see Leah or Abram. I only saw Renesmee as her mouth came down hard on top of mine, and something confusing growled to life in my chest, in the pit of my stomach. Her lips were warm, inviting. They tasted like strawberries and promise as I coaxed them open with my tongue and explored for just a second too long, for that second that it took me to realize that my intended audience had fled to the bathroom, and I was kissing Renesmee just because I wanted to kiss her, because I felt a strange sensation stirring just being near her.

Renesmee released my wrist, and the movie theater blinked out. I opened my eyes and stumbled back a step as the driveway swam back into my vision, as the trees and the grass and Renesmee came back to me. I blew out a heavy breath, looking at Renesmee as if she'd stabbed me.

Her gaze was searching, triumphant.

"Okay," I growled, suddenly angry that she'd made me relive that. "Okay, maybe I know what you're talking about, but that doesn't change anything, Renesmee. I love Leah. There's someone out there for you too, but it's not me."

I left her standing in the driveway, smiling. I cut over into the trees, phased, and ran for it. I wanted to leave whatever Renesmee was thinking far behind. Maybe I got a strange feeling from her, but that was a different life and a different fate. Whatever could have happened had passed now. I'd made my choice, and that choice was Leah Clearwater.

The certainty swelled inside of me, made me feel—for the first time in a long time—complete.

()()()()()()

**LPOV**

"I told the fucker that I loved him. Can you believe that? I told him that I _loved him_."

It was ridiculous that I was talking to Mr. Jingles, the sock monkey my mom had bought for me when I was a kid, but the stuffed toy had been my only companion to turn to in my time of need. He'd seen everything and had the stains and ripped seams and missing stuffing to prove it. He was my oldest friend, though even the bell from which he'd derived his name had long since gone missing. My mother had sewed it onto the end of his tail, but the bell had fallen off sometime around my eleventh birthday and had never been replaced.

To say the least, Mr. Jingles had witnessed every moment of glory and disaster in my life, and, during this pivotal moment when I'd finally found love with someone again, I'd felt the need to discuss it with someone and had been too embarrassed to seek out a real and living individual.

I knew what anyone else would think: I was Leah fucking Clearwater, and I didn't have emotions outside of scorn and anger. Only Jingles had seen and felt my tears and sadness, my variety of other emotions.

"But he loves me too, the moron. He actually loves _me_."

Jingles smiled from his place at the foot of my bed, propped up against the decorative bars of my childhood bed. When I'd moved out, my mother had left my room untouched. Everything was in its place, just like I'd left it, as if my mom had meant to say, "You'll always have a place here. Come back whenever you need to." Well, I had needed to today, and I had been genuinely happy to find Jingles exactly where I'd left him. I sprawled onto that bed with him, laying flat on my stomach.

"We're going to make each other miserable. I just know it."

I frowned at Jingles. "How could we not? Everyone knows that I'm impossible to get along with, and we've already fought at least five times. But, Christ, Jingles, he has the dick of a god."

I nearly salivated a little thinking about it, thinking about the first time we'd had sex. It had been nuts, for sure, fucking in Sam's kitchen, but even when I'd felt my tits plant themselves in that cake, I'd told Jacob to keep going. It'd been like—Oh, I don't know—pussy cocaine. There was no other way to describe how incredible it had been. Jacob Black was a gift straight from the sex gods.

I shot a glance at Jingles.

"Okay, okay, and it's not just that anymore. He's amazing. He worked so hard to get me. No one has ever done that for me. He tells me that he loves me, and I know that he means it. I can see it in the way that he looks at me. It's all over his face. The way that he touches me…"

I sighed. "It's going to be one hell of a crazy relationship, but Jacob Black is—"

"_Jacob_?"

For maybe two seconds, I actually thought that Mr. Jingles had spoken. I gave him an incredulous look before realizing that the voice had come from behind me. I heard the sound of feet shuffling into my room, and I felt my face light on fire before I even turned to see who it was. Almost as a reflex, I sprang guiltily from my bed, giving a tiny yip and wheeling around to see my mother in the doorway.

"Mom!" I howled, wondering what the hell she'd overheard.

She looked almost as embarrassed as I did. Her tanned face was a dark color of scarlet, and she had a dish towel clenched in her hands that looked like she might rip in half at any second.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she said. "I didn't know you were—You only come home to talk to that monkey when you're upset, and I—_Jacob_, really? But what about Abram?"

_Dear God, please tell me that my mother did not just overhear me talking about the superior quality of Jacob Black's dick_.

Mortified, I pressed the heels of my palms to my eyes, growling in embarrassment. What the fuck? How did I even begin to explain this to my mom? I'd been forced to confide to a sock monkey for this exact reason: I didn't know how to communicate properly with other people. Let alone tell them about my feelings!

"Christ, mom, Abram and I broke up!" I shouted, hands still over my eyes.

"Because of… Because of Jacob?"

"Yes," I growled. "Yes, I dumped him, because I'm in love with Jacob."

I nearly swallowed my own tongue. I dropped my hands heavily to my sides, stunned that I'd just blurted out my love for Jacob to a real person. My mom looked equally as surprised, her eyes wide as orbs.

"Really?" she squeaked.

"Yes," I repeated, miserably. "Yes, really. The asshole made me fall in love with him."

"Leah!" my mother scolded, torn between being upset that I'd cursed in front of her and excited to find that I actually still had a heart. "Were you going to tell me?"

"Yes. Maybe? It's not—It's not all set in stone yet, mom."

My mom was grinning like a fool, and it was making me feel very, very awkward. She couldn't expect me to share my feelings with her when she was staring at me like that, could she? It looked like I'd suddenly transformed from the ugly duckling into the real and functioning daughter that she'd always wanted.

"Oh, Leah-!"

Somebody knocked on the front door. Thank God! Before my mother could so much as blink, I raced past her down the hall, desperate to get away from the joy in her eyes. She was getting way ahead of herself here. Me loving Jacob, and Jacob loving me—well, that didn't exactly equal anything yet, did it?

Apparently, it could to my mom. I could hear her following after me, probably not quite ready to let the subject go. I quickened my pace, in a hurry to get to my savior at the door to buy me some time. My mom couldn't exactly hound me about my lovey-dovey feelings if we had a guest.

At least, I hoped she wouldn't be that embarrassing.

Almost crazed about getting away from talking about my feelings, I reached the door and wrenched it open a little too hard. I felt my heart stop in response to the sight of Jacob standing there. It was actually almost a pleasant feeling—all those idiot butterflies flying around. What the fuck was wrong with me? Would I ever be able to see Jacob again without the possibility of a heart attack?

"H-Hey," I stammered, feeling awkward again.

Who wouldn't be? Jacob was the most handsome fucking man alive. Looking all thoughtful and broody with those pouted angel bow lips. Holy shit, if my mom hadn't been standing right behind me, I would have jumped him. A whole day apart? It was just too much. Now that I loved him, and he knew it, and he loved me, and I knew it. I was so disgusting.

Jacob looked from me, to my mom, and then back again. He opened his mouth, took a deep breath. I quirked an eyebrow at the dramatics, and then, suddenly, was struck by a great deal of apprehension that made my stomach squeeze in on itself.

"Leah," he started. "Leah, we should get married."

"What the _fuck_? Are you _insane_?" I demanded, but my words were drowned out by the impossibly loud squeal my mother released.


	22. She Said Maybe Never Saves the Day

**JPOV**

It was stupid and rash, and I didn't have a clue why it had popped out of my mouth. Hadn't I already witnessed how poorly Leah took to be cornered into something? I'd barely gotten her to commit, and now I was throwing something as monumental as a wedding in her face? I had to be fucking nuts, but, the thing was, I probably _was_ nuts. Leah _made_ me crazy. There wasn't a single drop of rationality in my body when I was near Leah, and I sure as hell wasn't going to be able to change that now.

Renesmee's weird little mind game, freak show act had spooked me, had made me think of several different paths that my life could have taken. I'd stared at them all, and I'd known what I'd wanted. I wanted Leah. From the second she'd squared off against me in Sam's kitchen, Leah was all I could seem to want anymore. And yeah, maybe I was fucking crazy, and maybe half of our relationship was built on the undeniable wall of lust that had been built around us, but I genuinely loved Leah Clearwater, every single bitchy inch of her.

It was just unfortunate that my way of telling her that had been a very poorly worded proposal.

And Leah took little to no time to throw it back in my face. I listened to her mom release the girliest, most excited squeal I'd ever heard in my life—the sort of sound I had hoped Leah would have made instead—and Leah gave me a look that could have sent anyone else to hell.

Without so much as saying a word, she shoved me backward, stepped out onto the porch, and slammed the door of her mother's house.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Black?" she snarled.

Why the hell was Leah so sexy when she was pissed at me? Maybe anger was Leah's natural state, curving the lines of her face and mouth into the expression she'd practically been born with.

"Is there something wrong with me asking you to marry me?"

Leah looked genuinely offended. Her mouth popped open, as if she was surprised that I had the audacity—a common beggar addressing a queen—to ask her to do something as obviously crazy as getting married. Sometimes, I just wanted to choke her.

I watched, torn between amusement and annoyance as she shot a look over her shoulder, obviously checking the windows to see if we were being watched. With a jerk of her head, she gestured for me to follow her as she stomped off the porch, over the yard, and toward a shed that I couldn't remember anyone entering or leaving since her father had died.

I gritted my teeth, angry that she was going to have to hide me in order to talk to me. Was she really that terrified of the idea of us being committed? Of people knowing about us? Surely she had at least a vague idea that her mother was probably already on the phone now, dialing everyone that she knew. Christ, Sue had probably wagered that her cold-hearted daughter would stay a spinster her entire life.

As Leah led the way into the shed, I slammed the wooden door behind us. That made her self-righteous ass jump.

"Well?" I demanded, my voice rising. "Is there? Is there something wrong with me? Some fatal flaw I'm not aware of?"

Leah swung around on her heels, looking ready to fight. When _wasn't_ she ready to fight? She probably woke up swinging in the morning. She raised her hand, as if she was seriously debating actually swinging at me. The anger between us seemed to heat the tiny space of the shed where an old work bench, tools, and boxes sat collecting dust. I was only pissed, because she was pissed at me, without clear reason.

"No!" she spat. "No, there's nothing wrong with you, but I thought we just started this, Jake. You can't just jump right to a proposal!"

I glared at her raised hand that had curled slightly. I wanted her to take a swing at me so that I could lay her out flat on her ass.

"We've known each other for _years_, Leah. It's not like we're strangers, and, I don't know about you, but I, for one, seem to remember being incredibly intimate and familiar with your twat. We've fought, we've fucked, we've confessed our feelings, and here are mine: I love you. How many damn times to I have to tell you that?"

Leah released a howl. "How the fuck does that equate marriage to you, you moron? You could have at least approached it delicately, but no! Your fat mouth blabbed it right in front of my mother!"

"Yeah? And what are you afraid of? Are you embarrassed of me? Embarrassed to think that anyone in town might consider us together?"

Leah lifted both hands this time, but she dug them into her hair, pulling at the dark strands in exasperation.

"No! Oh my God, I hate you, Jacob Black! You're a fucking catch, okay? What the hell do you want me to say here? I'm just not ready!"

Fuck her timing, her need to be in control. If I backed off now, Leah was only going to continue to evade. She was terrified of commitment, and a master at deceiving herself. We could go on being fuck-buddies for the rest of our lives, and Leah would try to appease me by saying that we were dating, but it just wasn't good enough anymore.

I was tired of being alone, tired of seeing my life pass in front of me, tired of seeing everyone else fall in love, start families, and be happy. I didn't want to be the Jacob Black that sat in his room for long hours into the night pining for Bella Swan anymore, and it wasn't going to make me feel any better if I sat in that dark room yearning for something more with Leah instead.

Leah and I were perfect together. She was as good as my actual imprint. She had said it herself: we were the oddballs. We were never fated to imprint, because we were meant to have the choice of choosing each other. Of course—_of course_—no one could truly believe that either of us would fall willingly into an imprint and arranged love. Love would never work for us unless we chose it.

Leah had chosen me, and she knew it.

"You're just a coward, Leah. Stop making excuses!"

I'd worded the insult carefully. Leah knew how to push all of my buttons, but I knew some of hers as well. She wouldn't stand for being called a coward. She had too much pride. When she took her step forward, cocked her arm, and swung at me, I was ready. I caught her by the wrist, swung her around, lifted, and pinned her on top of the work bench. She gave a hiss of surprise that I greedily swallowed as I planted my mouth against hers.

"You fucking cheat!" she growled.

I was dumb enough to let her snake her hand between us, thinking she meant to do something else, and unpleasantly surprised when she grabbed my balls in a vice grip.

"You're not going to win anything like this. Let me off of this bench right now!"

I gritted my teeth as her fingers squeezed, trying my hardest not to wince as needles of pain shot through the most tender part of my body. I felt a hysterical bubble of laughter rise to the surface, for some idiotic reason thinking to myself that Leah must not have cared if we ever had kids, considering she was trying to burst my family jewels.

"Really? I actually considered this as you winning, you bitch."

Her grip loosened a bit in surprise. "This is me winning?"

Able to breathe a little easier, I glanced up at her face. My jaw relaxed just enough so that I didn't have to hiss my next words to her.

"Yeah, asshole. This is you winning. For now."

Her hand released me, thoughtfully trailing up to the top of my jeans instead. She crooked her finger underneath the material, gave it a teasing pull. One dark eyebrow lifted as she studied me, the small smirk at the corner of her mouth plenty of evidence toward the fact that she had decided to play with me. I really wanted to hate her for it, but I couldn't seem to stop loving her long enough.

"Where's my prize at then?" she retorted.

Her smirk widened, flashing a bit of her teeth. I ducked forward, catching her bottom lip between my teeth as my hands dove down, around, and between the material of her shorts to cup her ass.

"Can you get these things any damn shorter? I can't help but to wonder if you're trying to show every man in town your ass."

Leah was already working the button on my jeans loose as she pulled her lip free in order to suck on mine. I groaned despite myself, leaning in to press our lips together, to seek anchor in her mouth as I slid my tongue past her teeth.

"Jealous?" she asked, pulling back.

"You're mine. Of course, I was, but now I'm going to solve the problem and get rid of these shorts."

They were elastic and cloth, probably a pair she wore to jog in, a pair she probably enjoyed jogging in, because they looked wonderful on her toned ass. I clutched the cloth on either side of her legs and jerked them cleanly off of her. She gave an amused squeal as I tore them free and tossed them somewhere behind me.

"What the fuck, Leah? You wear lace underwear to jog in?"

She punched me softly in the chest. "No, idiot. I wore these, because I was going to go and see you later."

"You're awfully confident," I noted, helping her pull her shirt over her head.

The bra she wore matched the underwear. Dark purple lace. Wouldn't have been my first choice, but it definitely suited her. Or maybe I was just biased, because I could see straight through it. The bra had no padding. I could see the dark circle of her nipple, see, just as well, the way that it was taut. I lifted a hand and rubbed my thumb over it, causing Leah to shiver.

Her hands shook a little as she tried to work my pants loose, but they were steady again as they closed around my dick. I groaned and leaned into her, barely able to remember the last time she'd held me like that. There was something to be said for it, as simple as it might have seemed. I nuzzled the crook of her neck, inhaling her.

Her freehand traced the crevices of my abs, and I pressed a kiss to her throat, completely content never to move again.

"Jake?"

Of course, Leah didn't feel the same.

"Yeah?"

"I've come to find that I need very little foreplay from you to be turned on. I'm fairly certain that I am quite wet right now. If you would please stop torturing me and insert block A into slot B, I will kindly not kick you in the balls for making me wait."

"Leah?"

"Yeah?"  
"You really want this?"

It hurt to resist, physically ached to be so close and hold back, but I shifted my hips only just enough to rub my tip against her clit. Leah's hand tried to urge me forward, and I laughed.

"Jake," she groaned.

"Move your hand, Leah. You can't always have it your way."

Reluctantly, she released me. Her hands moved, instead, to my shoulders.

"Why the fuck can't sex be like Burger King?"

"I'm going to pretend like you didn't just make a reference that compared our sex to a fast food place. I'm also going to pretend like you're not the bane to my entire fucking existence. By the way, did I mention that I love you?"

"What the fuck?" Leah responded.

Her legs were hooked around my waist as I drove myself into her to end the conversation. I wasn't gentle or tender. I didn't want to be the one with reserve. Leah wasn't fragile or delicate, and when she released her cry, all I felt was the success of being dominant. I clamped my hands on the windowsill behind her and rocked the work bench hard as I used it to balance her somewhere against the wall, the bench, and my dick. Her head bumped the windowsill, and she hissed out a breath.

"You want to know what it feels like to really be dominated by your alpha?"

Leah's brows drew together. "Shh."

I stopped, my cock buried inside of Leah.

"What? Are you seriously shushing me? What the-?"

Leah smacked a hand over my mouth, muffling my words as she shot a suspicious glance toward the door of the shed. I closed my mouth, now intrigued, and listened. I didn't know how Leah could have heard it over the noise we were making, but, the second that I shut up, I could hear it too.

Someone was making noise outside, talking in low voices that were growing closer and closer. Christ, couldn't I just fuck Leah in peace? Wondering why the hell anyone was coming near the old shed, I turned my face away from Leah's hand.

"Hurry. Come on."

I lifted her off the bench, reaching for and dragging my pants back up my legs. I didn't have enough time button them back, but it was still farther than Leah got. She merely grabbed her shirt, trying her best to pull her panties back over her velvet pocket from where I'd pushed them aside to gain entrance. Quick and quiet, we ducked behind a stack of boxes, Leah hugging her shirt to her chest.

_Wait_. Where was _my_ shirt, and when had I taken it off?

I spotted the dark lump where it was lying, rumpled, on the dirty floor of the shed. As the door swung open, a bit of light shone down on it, but the people that entered didn't seem to notice it. I had to nudge Leah in the ribs as she gave a small gasp at the sight of her brother stumbling in, a girl twined between his arms. Seth didn't hear his sister at all though, because he was lip locked with the girl in his arms, and, by the looks of it, thoroughly committed to his plans for her.

We probably had it coming, after all the shit we'd put Seth through the last couple of weeks, but it was still very, very uncomfortable watching what was as close to my little brother as anyone would ever get rounding the bases with a dark-haired, busty girl. She was Seth's age. I'd seen her around the Rez on several occasions, but had never given her much thought and didn't know her name. I almost turned to ask Leah, before remembering that we were supposed to be hiding, and Leah didn't look like she really cared who the girl was. It probably wouldn't have changed the way Leah looked ready to murder her as the girl clumsily tried to find her way into Seth's pants.

He was practically sucking her mouth off of her face as his hands grabbed hungrily at her tits. I wondered if I should close my eyes, plug my ears, and pretend like I wasn't trapped in the shed with two other horny individuals. How could I escape without humiliating Seth? I felt like I sort of owed him for never voicing his suspicions about his sister and me.

Leah felt no such sense of honor.

"Seth!" she shrieked, as her brother started to weasel his way up underneath the girl's shirt.

The pair jumped apart like they'd been shot as Leah sprang to her feet.

"Leah?" Seth gurgled, stupidly.

"Seth, you little shit! Didn't mom teach you how to treat a girl? Get out of here! Christ, show some respect, you moron!"

Seth could have called his sister out for being a hypocrite, but I could only imagine that he was too embarrassed to think of much more than his best way to escape. I couldn't see his face, but I could only imagine the terror and embarrassment riddled across it as he grabbed for his girlfriend and hurried to run away from his furious sister.

When they were gone, and Leah made a move to take chase, I stood and grabbed her elbow.

"Where are you going?"

She turned on me. "To kick my brother's ass!"

The door to the shed had already swung shut, and I wagered that Seth was already at a sprint.

"Not a good idea."

"Yeah? Why not?" she snarled.

I didn't think it was a good time to point out that Seth was more than old enough to fool around with whoever he wanted.

"You're naked," I said, instead.

Leah looked down at herself automatically, frowning.

"Oh," she said. "Oh, yeah. I guess I forgot."

"Just like I'll probably always wish I could forget how awkward that was."

Leah frowned. "Yeah. Certainly killed the mood, didn't it?"

She was staring at my pants, but I knew without looking.

"Yup, I'd have to say that it did."

"Well, fuck," Leah grumbled.

"Maybe later," I said. "We have time. You know, if you married me, we'd have a lot of time."

"You're pushing your luck, Black."

"At least move in with me?"

She stared at me in the partial darkness, frowning again.

"All right," she said. "Maybe."

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**Author Notes: **I tried to bring some of the humor back into the story with this chapter. ;) I know that some of you miss the cake-y goodness, but I had to build a relationship in order to build more cake. Stick with me, and you shall be rewarded. Reviews are love and inspiration. My cake fans out there make writing this story more than worthwhile. You guys make it fun!


	23. Fooled Me

**Author Notes: **Yeah, I definitely did neglect a small mound of homework to bring this chapter to you guys. I just couldn't stand making you wait! Or, actually, making myself wait anymore. I love this story, and I'm here to see it through to the end, no matter how crazy life gets. Which, let me tell you, it's been crazy here lately. Anyway, what I wanted to say the most was thank you for sticking around and keeping with Revenge Cake. It's definitely been a blast, and the fun isn't over yet. Even if it takes me forever to update, it's going to be completed. Having said that, I want to extend a huge thanks to those that nominated and voted for Revenge Cake in the Jacob Black n Pack Awards. Revenge Cake won first for Best Blackwater Fic. I was THRILLED! As thanks, please enjoy this long overdue chapter. ;)

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**LPOV **

I kicked over a small mountain of Jacob's clothes, snorting derisively as they toppled over. One week with the guy, and I was ready to burn all of his clothes so that there would be nothing left to toss in the floor. I wasn't even really sure what color the carpet was in his bedroom.

Granted, I wasn't the tidiest person ever, but even I had the good sense to gather up my underwear and tuck them out of sight in a hamper when I was done with them. Seeing Jacob in only his underwear was sexy.

Seeing Jacob's underwear piled on the floor? Not so sexy. Shit, who knew how long his sweaty balls had rubbed against those things. His balls were nice and all, but no thanks.

I pressed my fingers into the skin above my eyebrows. I was even starting to annoy myself with how much I had already nagged him. I mean, I sounded really horrible.

_Your shit is everywhere, Black! _

_Fuck, it smells like dog in here. Why don't you clean?_

I was sounding like a housewife. It was exactly why I had rejected this idea of moving in together. Sure, we had great sex, and yeah, I loved him, but it was just wrong trying to make two people like us live together. We were prone to become some sort of natural disaster when caged together too long. He was sexy and sweet and charming, sure, but he was also a slob, and he snored at night. He was a cover hog, and he didn't know how to properly wash a dish to save his life. I wanted to punch him in the face right after I got done making out with it.

_Where the hell was he anyway?_

I'd noticed that it was a little after ten in the morning when I'd rolled out of bed a few minutes ago. It'd been disconcerting waking up in his room, wondering where the fuck I was at and why my sheets smelled like really sexy man. I'd rolled my face into the pillow for a minute, sucking in the lingering scent of Jacob's cologne, before I'd managed to drag myself away.

Jacob had given me one of his shirts to sleep in the night before. It hung nearly to my knees, but, sometime during the night, it'd gotten tangled around me, and I pulled it out of the lip of my pajama shorts as I padded down the hallway.

It smelled like—

I inhaled, dragging a hand through my knotted, black hair.

—someone was baking something.

My stomach lurched. It smelled like _cake_.

I passed through the living room and rose to tiptoes as I reached the kitchen. I really didn't know why I was trying to be sneaky about it, but I was almost afraid to peak around the archway to see what Jacob was doing in the kitchen. He had his back to me, stirring something vigorously in a bowl. I could hear a spoon smacking around inside of a plastic bowl, whipping something doughy that made sucking noises.

With all of our pleasant memories concerning cake, I really should have been more hot and bothered about the possibility that he was making one, but Jake had become unnervingly serious about _everything_ lately. He was hearing glorified wedding bells these days.

Brain damage. It had to be.

We worked really well as a couple, as sex partners, but marriage? It gave me the creeps. Even though there had to be something to say about marrying a guy whose back alone could make you horny. I slipped into the kitchen, keeping quiet, watching the muscles rippled across Jake's bare back as he worked at the mixture in his bowl.

"You're not very sneaky, Leah," he said.

I hunched my shoulders, scowling at him.

"Your hearing is better than I expected, Martha Stewart."

Jacob raised a brow over his shoulder at me.

"Martha Stewart?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "What are you doing in the kitchen?"

"Baking."

There was a line of flour just above his eyebrow. I smirked. He looked almost harmless like that, not full of weighted questions about love and marriage.

"Why? Trying to poison someone?"

Jacob snorted, scratching his chin by rubbing it with the back of his hand. More flour smeared, giving him a thin, white beard. I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. He went back to stirring his batter.

"Just sit down, Leah. Let me finish this."

I took a carton of orange juice from the fridge, eyeing him as I went, before sitting down at the kitchen table. I pushed back the folds and urged the box to pucker its spout so that I could take a drink as I settled in to wait. The sun was slanting through the blinds. It fell over the kitchen table just a few inches short of being in my face. It glinted against the glossy front page of a magazine and a little wolf sculpture that had fallen over on its side. I put the carton down and reached for the brown wolf, aiming to set him up, and saw something else sitting on the middle of the table.

The wolf squeezed from my fingers and fell back on its side next to the small, black jewelry box.

What the hell was that?

"Jacob…"

He ignored me, pouring his batter into a pan all Martha-fucking-Stewart-like. My fingers spider-crawled away from the forgotten wolf sculpture, moving toward the jewelry box, that was really too small to be a necklace, or something harmless like that. My heart stuttered in my chest as I caught it with the tip of my fingers and pulled it across the table toward me.

Jacob's hand came down over mine, and I jolted.

"Stop being so anxious," he said.

I wondered if he could feel the way my hand had gone all cold and clammy underneath his, or if he could tell that I was having a hard time breathing. I felt a little nauseas, like I might puke all over the horrible thing in the box if he opened it and showed it to me.

It was too fast, really too fast. I'd agreed to move in with him, and that was as fast as I was comfortable going for the moment. I wasn't ready for marriage or the things it included, like responsibility and bills and _kids_. Was the world even ready for my offspring?

"What is it?"

Jacob pulled out a chair next to me and sat down. He lifted his hand, but, even though mine was still over the box, I couldn't find the strength to open it now.

"It's a gift for you."

I could practically hear my mom squealing in my head. She'd called me at least three times over the week, demanding to know if I had become the future Mrs. Black yet. She was insane, but Jacob had opened that can of worms in front of her, and now I didn't know if I'd ever get it closed again.

"Does it come with a question?"

Jacob laughed. "Sure. Probably something about whether or not you like it. Open it."

I didn't want to, but I had to know what was inside of the box. I pulled it across the table to me, pressed my thumbs against the lid, and popped it open. I expected to see a rock the size of a small planet inside of it, expected, at any second, that Jacob would fall out of his chair onto one knee and make me have to kick him in the balls.

But it wasn't a ring, and I let out a louder sigh than I meant to when I saw that it was another wolf sculpture—two wolves, actually. The foam that would have held a ring had been removed, and the sculpture lay at the bottom of the ring box. It was of two wolves, carved leaning into each other, and one was rust-colored, while the other was gray. I pinched the sculpture between my fingers and lifted it, realizing, as a chain dangled underneath, that it was a necklace.

"You're such a pussy, Leah."

"What?"

I was still staring at the necklace, something profound happening in my chest.

"You almost passed out there for a second," he said. "Thought it was a ring, didn't you?"

"You're a dick," I croaked.

Because I was relieved that it wasn't a ring, that Jacob and I could go on through our mildly complicated relationship without inching it upward toward extremely complicated. Maybe one day I'd work myself into the idea of marriage, but I was still getting my land legs here. If I married anyone in my life, it would be Jacob. Like I'd told Mr. Jingles, I loved him. Maybe with time, I could start to like the idea. Little presents like the wolves probably wouldn't hurt his chances either.

He liked to carve them. He had several around his house, but this one was different. It was the only one where two wolves had been carved attached together. They were the only two in his house that were _our _colors of wolves.

"I'm trying to give you some space for as long as I can manage it. It's difficult for me. I had to give you something to appease myself."

"You're selfish."

"Yeah," he agreed.

Leaning toward me, he took the necklace from my hands and clasped it around my neck, running his fingers back down the length of the chain until he reached the wolves, where he let it fall against my chest. They were lightweight, but I liked the feel of them.

"What's the cake for?"

I had to change the subject. I was starting to get warm, fuzzy feelings that were incredibly inappropriate for a girl like me. Jacob closed his hand over mine on the table. It was strangely intimate in a way that I couldn't remember us being, but I didn't pull my hand free. I actually sort of liked it when he laced his fingers with mine, almost casually, like he didn't mean to do it.

"For your mom and Charlie."

"Why?"

I still wasn't sure how I felt about putting their names together, but Charlie had really grown on my mom. Jacob shifted in his seat, debating how to answer my question. I was going to have to make a note to myself that the appearance of cake in my life from now on was going to be my signal for some serious business going down. To think I'd once thought it so harmless.

"My dad thinks he's going to pop the question soon."

I choked.

"_What_?"

Jacob squeezed my hand. "They're good together."

I pressed my lips together. Charlie was still Bella Swan's dad. Not mine. And how exactly would I feel being related to a vampire? It was rough enough working around this treaty Jacob and Sam had set up, but tying one directly to my bloodline was a different matter altogether. Not to mention, Bella was Jacob's past—his thick, uncomfortable past that had hovered over us like an elephant-shaped rain cloud.

But my mom was a grown woman, and Seth and I were old enough. We were old enough to know that we couldn't tell our mom how to answer Charlie Swan if he proposed. I swallowed.

"So, why the cake?"

"Cake seems to be lucky for us. I thought we could share the luck."

I pressed a hand over my mouth, making a gagging sound, as the scent of baking cake filled the kitchen.

"Christ, Jacob, you didn't seriously just make that reference did you? I think I might be sick."

"Old people need fun too."

I slapped him across the arm with my free hand, but he only laughed.

"You're a horrible person, Black."

He shrugged. "Maybe."

I didn't know why, couldn't explain how it happened, but I felt the atmosphere shift around us. I watched him as he started to lean forward. My limbs seemed to lock up in response, suddenly afraid to move or breathe as the room abruptly filled with quiet and meaning. Quiet and meaning that scared the piss out of me, but I couldn't stop the moment as Jacob leaned in. His eyes were on mine, determined and thoughtful. They didn't close—mine didn't close—until his lips pressed against mine. It was the softest, most sincere, act we'd shared yet, and I was surprised by the warmth of the cushion of his lips against mine.

Jacob squeezed my hand that he was holding and gently turned it over. He smoothed my fingers open, trailing his gently down the length of mine, and then he pressed something into my palm.

I knew exactly what it was.

"Jacob," I said, protesting, as my eyes popped open. "You said you wouldn't."

He forced my fingers closed over the ring he'd placed on my palm.

"I lied," he said.

It sounded so easy that I wanted to kick him. He couldn't lie to me about something like _this_.

"Look," he said, "I didn't put it on your finger for a reason. I know what I want. I wasted a lot of time finding it, and I don't want to let it go this time. I know that you're chicken shit when it comes to this—"

He squeezed my hand to shut me up when I tried to protest.

"—but it's happening. You keep the ring, think about it, and when you decide to finally embrace that long lost emotional side of yours, put it on, and then I'll ask you the question."

"Jacob."

He was such a stubborn bastard. He wouldn't even give me a second to panic here, when I felt the need crawling up my spine the most. I could entertain the idea of marrying Jacob, some day, but the ring made everything real. It wasn't just a _maybe,_ it was a _when_.

I could feel the weight of the ring pressed against my palm, the weight of Jacob's hand pressed over mine. I opened my mouth, trying to think of something to say, trying to think of a way to put him in his place, to blow off this wave of seriousness that I didn't have the capacity to handle.

A ring. He'd bought _me_ a _ring_.

_Mrs. Leah Black_. It sounded way too mature and sophisticated for a girl like me. I would be _Jacob's_. It would be a done deal. My heart rose to my throat. My mouth worked wordlessly as I tried to find a life raft in the ocean Jacob had just tossed me into.

Jacob shook his head. "It's the only truce I'm giving you. I want to be with you, Leah. I'm just letting you pick when that will happen, when it will be permanent."

_Permanent_. I felt the weight of the ring again, the cool metal against my palm. When I put it on, Jacob Black would be _permanently mine_.


	24. Wedding Cake

**Author Notes: **Yeah, I know, two chapters in one day! Wow, right? :P I tried to be productive and work on homework, but I had to write this scene while it was on my mind, because it just wouldn't let me do otherwise. So enjoy this special treat, and leave me a review to let me know what you think about it.

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**Renesmee POV**

I wasn't going to relinquish the idea that there was something between Jacob and me, but I could see defeat when it happened. Something about our fates had altered. Somehow, Leah Clearwater had slid into the mix, and Jacob had taken one good, long look at a woman he'd known most of his life.

Unfortunately for me.

I'd peeked into his head before, and I'd seen enough of their relationship to erase any doubt in my mind that they might not work out. Though Leah was stubborn and rough around the edges, they had something together that I could only envy. There was real passion there, and, one way or another, Leah would see that and embrace it, and any hope for me would be snubbed out.

I hadn't fallen in love with Jacob, so my heart was mostly safe. Maybe I'd ventured toward the boundary line between liking someone and something serious, but I hadn't crossed over, and so I was going to be spared true heartbreak, like the kind I'd witnessed in Jacob's head. His feelings for my mother would probably always remain to some degree, but he had moved on.

Was that what I had felt between us? Some sort of desperate hope on his part that I could fill the void of Bella Swan, _be_ Bella Swan? It was a stupid question to ask, considering that Jacob had never acted seriously interested in me other than as a means to an end, but something about the one kiss we had shared wouldn't leave me alone. It'd opened up a tiny glimpse of a different future, one where Jacob and I would have been intertwined.

Sitting on my grandfather's couch, I crossed my legs, took a small drink from the water glass in my hand. Charlie's house was packed with family and friends. Every now and then, I would see the newlyweds appear out of the crowd as they moved to speak to someone else. Charlie seemed to be grinning each time I saw him, while Sue stood tucked underneath his arm, smiling over someone's shoulder, her gaze a million miles away, probably reliving the wedding that had taken place only two hours earlier.

It had been nice and small and quiet, and it had taken place in Sue's backyard, which was surprisingly quaint with flowers that she kept well groomed and an old archway with vines crawling over it and paint chipping off that had been perfect for getting married underneath.

Jacob and Leah had sat two rows behind me, diagonal, on folding lawn chairs. They had sat holding hands, yet another sign of defeat for me, considering Leah had never before seemed the type to do such a thing in public, to unify herself with someone. I'd only looked back at them once, and I didn't see them again until everyone had moved to Charlie's house for the reception.

They unified themselves with the rest of their pack. It was almost amusing, seeing the Quileutes align themselves around each other on one side of the living room while my family stood just slightly apart. Sam was the only one that mingled, probably some faint recalling of his old duties as alpha, to keep the peace.

My family was generally well-behaved and friendly, but it seemed as if my mother was the most outgoing of the bunch, particularly fond of Seth Clearwater, who had brought a pretty date with dark hair and rather large breasts. Leah hadn't seemed to have approved of this date, because she had rarely addressed her brother in the last two hours, but it might have also been because my mother and father were often his company as well.

I smirked into my glass, catching sight of Jacob in the crowd.

"Can I sit here?"

Sam Uley had appeared at the end of the couch. He was frowning a little, which wasn't too surprising, considering he usually seemed to be frowning, but I could sense restless energy in the way that he was standing, almost as if he wasn't sure what to do with himself. I had heard that Emily was coordinating most of the reception, and so he'd probably been left out without his date.

I smiled, trying to appear at least somewhat welcoming, even though I had never actually had a conversation with Sam before. Still, he had been tolerant of my family when he'd been alpha, and he'd never really been rude.

"Sure."

He had to wait until a couple passed by before he could slip onto the couch next to me, but, when he did sit down, he brushed my arm as he leaned back, and, abruptly, the laughter and murmur of a room congested with people went quiet inside of my head.

I jolted slightly, seeing images of Leah unfold inside of my mind. She was almost blanketed by stubborn thoughts of Emily, but she was there, swimming just beneath the surface. I didn't mean to pry, but I had been thinking about Jacob and Leah, and my thoughts greedily swiped at Sam's memories, as if they could tell me why Leah had ended up in Jacob's life.

Maybe it took me only a minute to see what I saw there, but the memories of several years unfolded in front of me when I parted away the thoughts of Emily, and I saw Sam and Leah in love and together. I could feel his affection for her, the way it had been easy for him to love her. She seemed like a different girl entirely in this past that Sam was unknowingly showing me. She was smiling and unreserved. She seemed innocent and immune to pain, like it would just bounce off of her.

I saw him holding her hand, saw him kissing her, saw him looping his arms around her and making love to her for the first time.

And then Sam shifted, and there was space between us. The images winked out, and I was back to the reception, back to the voices rising and cresting together, back to the present where Sam was with Emily, Leah was with Jacob, Bella was with Edward, and I was floating yet to be tied down.

I took a breath.

"Sorry," Sam said. "I just don't know what to do with myself when Emily's busy."

But he was, I saw, staring at Leah, who had appeared across the room at Jacob's side. I stared with him, noticing that we weren't the only ones. My mother was looking in that direction too, briefly, quickly, and then she turned back to my father, and she didn't share mine and Sam's sense that we had missed some part of our lives that had been beyond our control.

"It's okay. I know what you mean," I said, but I didn't really have a clue what it felt like to be so reliant on someone else.

Not yet.

Maybe one day it would happen, but I hoped, for my own sanity, that it wouldn't involve heartache. I hoped that I wouldn't feel the loss that half of the people in this house had, where pieces of themselves were floating around in the souls of someone else, someone that they weren't with.

I thought it was sad, but it must be like that to really love someone. If it happened, and it ended, maybe it never really _did_ end to some degree. Maybe it continued to exist in some small way like memories of Leah existed inside of Sam, just barely—barely—visible underneath thoughts of Emily.

()()()()()()()

**LPOV**

"Leah?"

I hadn't felt like this in a long time. It'd been so long that I could barely remember it. I wasn't even sure that girl had existed at all. Maybe she had been a figment of my imagination, existing only to please Sam until something better had come along for him. I'd told myself that that girl—imagination or not—had been an idiot, that I would never let her exist again.

But I found myself leaning into Jacob as he stood behind me, one arm looped around my waist. I felt goosebumps on my skin when he parted my hair near my ear with his nose, breathing against my neck.

My stomach had felt so uneasy lately, like butterflies were flying around, like I might vomit at any moment. Love was strange.

"Yeah?"

All of these people were looking at us, wondering and talking, and I couldn't make myself give a shit. Jacob was mine.

"How does it feel to be related to vampires?"

I let my head fall back onto Jacob's shoulder, turning my face toward him so that I wouldn't be overheard.

"Jacob?"

"Yeah?"

"Fuck you."

He snickered against my neck.

"Well, since you insist."

He started to lead me backward, pulling me along back through the crowd, away from the couple we'd been talking to. I stumbled a little.

"What are you doing, Black?"

"Finishing something we started before."

As he pulled me backward into a room and closed the door behind us, I felt the ring I'd tucked into my pocket. It was small but firm. I had looked at it—really looked at it—about an hour after I had received it, when Jacob had wandered off into the other room. It was small, nothing too flashy—a gold band with a single, princess cut diamond. I wondered if he had known that I would have felt uncomfortable with gaudy jewelry. The ring looked like my kind of thing.

But I hadn't dared to put it on, even just to see what it looked like, so I'd kept it in my pocket every day. It felt like a stupid thing to do, but I thought that it was best to keep it on hand, just in case, just to remind myself that I had a decision to make.

Jacob had done well with keeping his mouth closed about it, but maybe the wedding had inspired his need again. I turned around to cut him off before he could get started as the door closed behind us, and I found myself in a bathroom. He reached around me to lock the door, and then his mouth was on mine, and I forgot what I had been about to say to him.

He pushed his hands up underneath my shirt, and they were warm and firm.

"I was enjoying the way that people were staring at us, but they're going to have to wait."

I didn't know if he expected an answer, but his tongue parted my lips and was in my mouth, so it would have to wait. He pulled the button of my pants free, urged them down my hips.

Oh my God, seriously? In Charlie Swan's bathroom?

I should have been stopping him, but he was too fast, and his pants were already down too, so what was the use in wasting my energy?

"Jacob, maybe we shouldn't…"

"Is Leah Clearwater seriously about to cop out of dirty bathroom sex?"

He had a point, a much finer point, in fact, when his dick slid home and answered an ache I'd nearly forgotten about.

"I love you," I said.

"Yeah." Jacob smiled against my mouth. "I know."

()()()()()()()()

**Seth POV**

Nina was gorgeous, really gorgeous, and she had tits the size of watermelons. She was smart too, intelligent enough where I didn't have to pause in the middle of a joke and explain to her what something like a donkey punch was, and that counted for something. Plus, she was a really great fuck.

I'd been with different girls, dated plenty of them, and had never been quite as satisfied as I was when I even just fantasized about putting my face between Nina's boobs and motor boating, which, of course, I had never actually done, because I had respect for women, and I also didn't like getting slapped by girls with fingernails as long as Nina's. They always liked to curl their fingers as they were dragging their hands away from my cheeks, pulling their nails across my skin.

I liked Nina's nails clawing my back, not my face.

I'd been seeing her for about three months, and so I'd taken the liberty to invite her to the wedding, which I was pretty pleased about—that is, I was pleased to have a date as pretty as her, and I was pleased about the wedding too, because I liked Charlie and Bella, and the rest of the Cullen's were cool too. Not to mention, my mom needed someone there for her now that I was out of the house too, and Leah had never really understood how to be feminine enough to need mother/daughter time, if even just to please our mom. Really, until I'd caught her in the kitchen with Jake, I'd sort of thought she swung the other way, which was fine and all, but I thought my mom would have liked grandkids, and I, for one, didn't plan on ever settling down like that.

But Jake had saved the day, and that had been obvious to everyone, especially today, when everyone had gotten an eyeful of him and Leah leaning on each other in Charlie's house. There was nothing wrong with that, but people were generally as surprised as I was to discover that Leah really _was_ a girl.

"C'mon, let's go somewhere quiet," I said, because Nina had been giving me _the look_ for about an hour now.

She was an endless well of built up sexual tension, and that was cool with me, because that was what I really wanted anyway. Maybe it was wrong to do anything like that in Charlie's house, but everyone was preoccupied, and I was starting to get hard, and I couldn't just stand around with a boner for the rest of the night. It'd be real quick anyway, just enough to relieve myself.

I took Nina's hand and headed for the bathroom, but, when I tried the knob, it was locked. It wasn't a big deal, because I figured someone had just had to go, and they'd be done soon, and then Nina and I could do something about my problem, but the hall was the least occupied place, and it was relatively quiet compared to the living room, and I could hear the person in the bathroom just as I turned back to Nina to tell her we'd wait.

The voice was masculine, but the moan that followed it was female. Something in the bathroom clattered onto the floor, and I could hear, through the door, my sister say Jacob Black's name.

"Oh, fuck," I said, feeling my stomach lurch to my throat.

"What?" Nina asked, but I took her hand and ran for it.

I guessed that there was a price to pay for my sister finding out that she had a vagina after all.

_But how many times was I going to have to walk in on it?_


	25. Cake for Three

**Author Notes: **It's ridiculously shameful how long it took me to get this chapter out. I have a somewhat weak but true defense: I finished the fall semester of school, moved twice, got a seriously wicked flu bug, and finished my application for grad school. All of which kept me completely away from the world of fanfic. But now I'm back with, unfortunately, a really lame internet connection that is slow and lags, but I'm still back to complete Revenge Cake for all of you faithful readers, just like I promised. I am soooo sorry for making you guys wait. I completely understand how annoying it is to go so long without an update, particularly after having invested in so many chapters. Thanks to those of you that have stuck around, and know that I will get this story done for you guys, and I always love to hear your thoughts on the story in reviews!

* * *

**Jacob POV**

"I'm related to vampires."

I kept my eyes closed, thought about pretending to be asleep, about investing in a bigger bed. I was at a weird angle with my feet hanging off the mattress. It seemed like that was the case no matter which angle I took. Leah just fit there, all cozy and cat-like, where ever I didn't take up space. She just fit on the open places on top the mattress, curling into me. And it was funny, because she was tall, and she shouldn't have fit there.

She probably wouldn't keep doing that if she knew that it had played a part in my deciding to marry her. Metaphorically, she fit into places that no one had fit into since Bella, and even Bella hadn't filled all of the cracks.

Because part of her had belonged to Edward. And Leah was just mine.

She nudged me with her elbow, harder than necessary. I could feel the point of it dig into my ribs. I nudged her back.

"I'm related to vampires," she repeated.

"So?"

No use in pretending that I was asleep. Even if I really had been, she probably would have kept nudging me until she got her answer. Leah was impatient. She didn't wait around for anyone when she wanted an answer. It made me ridiculously happy, even though it was sometimes annoying as hell. It was weird to think that I loved someone because they annoyed the piss out of me. It didn't seem right, or even healthy, but it was too late to go back now.

I had never wanted what was healthy for me. Healthy never felt right. Or exciting. Or sexy.

"Sorry, I forgot that you used to be in love with a vampire."

I opened my eyes, rolling them toward the ceiling. Leah continued to stay where she was, head on my chest, fingers tracing circles across my stomach. Her hair was tickling me, but it felt soft and warm, and I liked the weight of her there, even though she was acting like she hadn't just made a jab at me, like she wasn't trying to bait me into a fight. She liked to fight. It was the only thing that made her comfortable in her own skin, and, yeah, I sort of found it hot.

Mainly because fighting was how we started fucking for the first time.

"Leah, where is your ring?"

"Why?"

I shrugged, making her head bob. "I sort of want to throw it at you."

"_Your_ ring is in the pocket of my jeans on the floor."

"I changed my mind. I'm going to choke you with it."

"Try it, Black. See how far you get."

I didn't shift more than an inch, and Leah was already straddling me. I grunted in surprise as she curled up onto her knees and rolled over onto me, landing high on my stomach. Her hand caught my wrist as I made a grab for her.

"Wrestling while you're naked isn't a fair fight."

She cocked a brow. "Oh yeah? Why not?"

Her legs were spread, one on either side of me. She was pressed flat and open against me, and it was the first time I had felt the warmth of her core without having my dick pressing into it. Getting hard again so soon after we'd just fucked was painful, but I was rising to the bait anyway.

I made a face, and when I rolled, she let me roll her too, letting herself get tucked right up underneath me. She fit well there too, smiling as she felt the press of my dick against her leg.

"You have to ask?"

I ducked forward, pressing a kiss against her neck. She shuddered, unused to the intimacy I was trying to discreetly introduce into our sex life. Hard and fast was fine. But I had sort of proposed to her, and so it wasn't going to cut it all of the time. She was going to have to learn that.

Her hands came up to my chest, pushing me back.

"You're right. Once is good enough for now."

She started to wriggle out from underneath me.

"Where are you going?"

She slid away, and I missed her warmth the second it was gone.

"I don't feel that great, Black. I've got to take a piss, okay? You want to monitor me?"

I frowned. "Just hurry up."

()()()()()

**Leah POV**

I sat bare ass naked on the toilet, and it was fucking cold. Nothing better than a cold as ice toilet seat pressing against your ass cheeks to really make you miserable in a time of weakness. I didn't have to be a rocket scientist to notice the way that Jake was changing. We'd gone a long way since day one when I'd made it pretty clear that I was just in it for sex. Somewhere along the way, he'd really evolved. He wasn't the poor, wounded puppy in love with the vampire anymore.

He was the alpha wolf in love with _me_. He was the guy that knew what he wanted for once and how to get and keep it. Jacob had me trapped on all sides, and it looked like I was going to be the one to lock the key to the cage. My own feelings were hard as fuck to ignore. They always had been. As removed as I could make myself seem, I could never completely hide them.

Just like with Sam when I'd broadcasted all of my pain and heartache across wolf airways. But this was different. There had been no hope for Sam and I. Jacob was an entirely different story, and I was starting to like that fact.

Getting too comfortable. _Stupid_. That was why I was in this mess. Abram had been the safe choice—the guy I could like just enough that it didn't matter if I loved him or not. He was safe, because I would never feel so dangerously about him. I could be content.

But I'd fucked that idea in the ass when Jacob had planted me into a birthday cake. How could a girl say no to that type of persuasion? Big, muscled, tanned, amazingly well-equipped man handling her? Jesus, I had never been the type. Especially not for Jacob.

He was my imprint, whether or not my body physically recognized that. Or whatever it was in me that recognized an imprint. Not everyone imprinted. Maybe mine and Jake's ability to do so had short-circuited, and whatever was left was enough to pull us together. What else could explain how drastically my life had changed? I wanted Jacob for more than his dick.

I stared at my pants—grabbed and carried quickly as I'd left the room—dropped into a heap on the floor, waiting for myself to piss. The ring was in the left pocket, waiting for an answer.

My mom had just gotten married to Charlie Swan. I was now related to the clan of vampires that are pack had been at odds with for years. Stranger things had happened besides me falling in love with Jacob.

I looked down, pushing my hair back behind my ears with my free hand, pulling a few strands along the way as if to prove to myself that I wasn't dreaming. I studied the slopes of my breasts. They were small, just handfuls. I could clearly see my belly button down the flat line of flesh that ran between my breasts. No ample cleavage for me, but Jake seemed to like it.

And I seemed only to like my breasts when they were in his hands now. Shit, I used to be proud of my tits. I used to flaunt them. Now they looked small and not so great unless Jake was eyeballing them. Which he did more than enough times to make me feel good.

When I finally started to pee, I was thinking about how pathetic I had to be.

"This is ridiculous."

Trying to pee on a stick and not my own hand. How did I get here, to this place where I was taking a pregnancy test? I never forgot to take my pill, and then Jake proposes, and I forget everything! It was surprising that I remembered my own name. Probably only because he said it so many times.

_Leah, Leah, Leah._

I tried to imagine how he would say it if this test turned up positive, and I had to tell him that there was a little Leah and Jacob on the way.

My heart squeezed as my chest became severely and suddenly constricted. I rocked forward on the toilet, feeling sick, getting an eyeful of the pocket with the ring in it. When I got off that toilet, I might not have any other choice but to put that ring on. Even if it was the answer I was going to eventually give, it would be a must, wouldn't it, if this test told me I was a dumb, forgetful bitch that forgot to take her pill—one that was soon going to bear some little puppies.

There was something wrong with the entire idea of me being a mom.

I wasn't cut out for the job.

Seth had been the last little kid that I had ever dealt with. He'd puked on me more than anyone else, and my mom had been the one doing all of the feeding and burping and cradling. It was like I was a walking anti-mother, and he'd sensed it, barfing up his baby milk any time that I came within range, as if to tell me to keep away. I'd probably kill a baby just by touching one. I was not the right girl to have Jacob's baby.

But did I want anyone else to be? Fuck no.

"Leah?"

"Yeah?"

I set the pregnancy test stick on the sink, having finished peeing on it, and having successfully avoided getting any on my hand. I'd snuck the test in when I'd first arrived at Jake's house, heading straight to the bathroom under false pretenses as soon as I'd walked in the door. I'd tucked it into his cabinet, deciding to talk to him about it before I took it.

And then we'd had sex, and I'd chickened out. A little. Not _really_. I was still going to tell him, but now I was going to wait until after the test. That way, if I wasn't, there wouldn't be any need to put any baby or family ideas into Jacob's head. I could only deal with one thing at a time, and I still had that ring in my pocket to deal with.

"Sam's here."

I gagged a little. Shit. Wasn't that a sign of pregnancy? Nausea and vomiting? Leave it to Sam to make me sick—to make me really pregnant. And that sounded disgustingly wrong.

"What? Why?"

There was a long pause on the other side of the door. I could imagine Jake standing there, brows knitted together, a scowl on his face. I wished that, for once, he'd just punched Sam in the face like he must have wanted to and saved me the trouble. I mean, I would have done it for him if Bella had shown up at the door.

"He wants to talk to you."

Jacob didn't sound like he wanted him to. Really, I didn't want to talk to him either. I had a test answer to wait on. One that was a lot more important than hearing what he had to say.

"He won't leave," Jacob growled, as if translating my silence.

Of course not. I reached for my pants and found my shirt balled up inside of them. No panties or bra though. Of _course_ not. I pulled them on with the intention of free birding it. Who the fuck cared anyway? Both men had seen me naked, and, really, it was the least of my worries.

I slid out of the bathroom, keeping the door shut behind me, running right into Jacob's chest. He'd put pants on, but that was it.

"Are you trying to intimidate him with your chest muscles?"

Jacob stared at me for a second, the corner of his mouth puckering as if he was almost amused, and then he looked over my head at the bathroom door, and then back at me. I tried to keep my expression blank, if not a little annoyed with my predicament. I shrugged.

"Where is he? I've got business to finish. I don't feel so great. As not sexy as it is, I'll tell you now, you don't want to go in there."

I didn't want to give any guy the impression that I ever did anything as horrible as take a dump, but if it kept Jacob out of the bathroom and away from my pregnancy test, then I would risk the mild humiliation and possible removal from the female race.

"He's in the living room. You aren't wearing a bra."

I smirked. "No underwear either. I'll be right back."

I heard him grunt as I turned and walked away from him, but I didn't know how to translate it. I figured that it fell somewhere between him being mad at Sam and pissed at me for greeting Sam without any underwear. Neither of which were my fault.

I had just been trying to mind my own business and pee on a stick.

"What do you want?"

I stopped short of walking fully into the living room. Sam was standing in the middle of the room, hovering near the couch like he'd considered sitting and had decided he didn't want to be that vulnerable. Probably a wise choice. I couldn't guarantee that I wouldn't swing at him. Just on principle. If not for the things between us in our past, then for him kissing me recently, acting like he had a say in my life.

But it was nice seeing him if only for the fact that, looking at him, I only felt a dim pang of what I used to feel for him. That was both excellent and bad news. Bad, because it meant that something else had taken its place. I was really falling that hard for Jacob. Without meaning to, I pressed a hand to my stomach.

If there was really something in there, then it was probably a good thing that I felt something.

Sam looked up. His eyes and the skin around them were darker than usual. His lips were drawn tight over his teeth, like he'd been making an unpleasant face for awhile. Maybe I thought he deserved to feel unpleasant for awhile.

"I just wanted to apologize."  
"Yeah? For what?"

It was easier to be mean to Sam than to sit in Jacob's bathroom wondering if I was pregnant. I fell back onto the old crutch as Sam winced. My spine straightened a little. I felt powerful in a moment of weakness.

"For everything. For saying or doing anything out of line. I shouldn't have…done what I did."

"You feel guilty, because you're with Emily, because your imprint makes you feel guilty."

Sam frowned, but I knew that I was at least half-right about that. Sam had acted out of jealousy, not real feeling. I'd done it enough to know what it looked like, and I didn't want to hear an apology for it. I didn't want Sam anywhere near me at the moment, not with this going on.

"No, really, Leah, I'm sorry. I want to apologize and go back to how things were before."

I snorted. "Yeah, how's this different? Except that you're the one embarrassed."

"Leah, I—"

He trailed off, because he heard it too: the sound of heavy footsteps coming down the hall toward us. I stiffened slightly, defining the sound as anger, knowing that it was Jacob, because he was the only other one in the house. I saw Sam glance toward the door, and I wanted to laugh, because _he_ looked like he wanted to run.

"Jake." I turned to stop him, but he brushed right past me.

He threw out his right hand, pointing toward the door.

"Get out Sam. Right now. Talk's over. Get out."

Sam was watching his right hand, looking again toward the door as Jacob pointed. I was looking at his left hand, at the slim, white plastic thing he was holding in it. I felt cold all over at the sight of it, felt my heart drop right to the floor—thought it was amazing that my eyes didn't roll out of my skull.

"Jacob—" Sam started.

I reached for Jake automatically, starting to explain.

"Get the fuck out!" he roared over the top of me.

Sam recoiled, bumping his heel against the couch as he stumbled back. He started to make toward the door, but Jake—angry—was advancing a few steps forward. He was going to take his anger for me out on Sam, which, though it would have been slightly funny, wasn't right. He was mad, because I hadn't told him. This fight was our fight—a fight I had pictured going a lot smoother.

"Get out, Uley!"

I caught Jacob by the arm, because I saw the light of war in his eyes, and it wasn't the time for it. Not unless he wanted to fight me, which I hoped to talk him out of as well, because, well, these things were supposed to be happy, exciting times, weren't they? I could have laughed at myself.

"You know I pissed on that, right?" I raised my voice over his. "And you're holding it right where most of my pee went."

Sam finally looked at the important hand, seeing and recognizing the stick for what it was. Really, it was surprising how fast the guy connected the dots.

"Oh, shit," he said.

_No kidding_.

"Get out," Jacob hissed one more time before turning on me.

And Sam listened this time. He scooted right out the door like a scared little mouse.

"What is this?" Jacob asked.

He waved the test in my face.

I shouldn't have been sarcastic. "I thought that was obvious."

I could see him grit his teeth. His face was almost turning red.

"Leah," he warned, "cut the bullshit for once. Are you—Are you _pregnant_?"

I looked from him to the test. "I don't know."

"_Leah_."

"I really don't know, Jacob. I didn't get to see. But, if I am, it's yours. Does that count?"

Jacob looked down at his hand, at the test. It was the saddest look I'd ever seen, and I, of all people, felt radically moved by it. It was as if he was holding the actual baby in his hand, or the possibility of the baby—a possibility that he wanted. His shoulders slumped, and he looked incredibly tired.

"Why are you joking about this?"

"I'm sorry," I said, and I meant it. "I'm sorry. It's scary, okay? I don't know how to handle it."

Jacob looked up at me. Taking my hand, he placed the plastic stick on my palm, pushing my fingers closed around it. I didn't think he'd listened when I'd told him that I'd peed on it. We were handling my urine an awful lot in a small amount of time.

"Why do you always think you have to handle things alone?"

It didn't sound like a question, so I didn't answer.

"Read it. Is it positive or negative?"

"Jake, I…"

"Just look. We'll deal with whatever it says together."

I was biting my bottom lip without realizing it—biting it hard. So hard I could almost taste blood. Did Jacob realize what it did to me when he talked like that? When he effortlessly shouldered my burden as his own? It made me go weak in the knees. It made me want to crumble into him and forget the pregnancy test.

I couldn't really be pregnant, could I? I couldn't really be potentially engaged to and the mother of the potential child of Jacob Black could I? When the fuck had hell frozen over on me?

I flipped the pregnancy test over in my hand, and I stared at the results, feeling my heart skid to a halt.


	26. The Last Cake Standing

**Leah POV**

It was a lot like falling—almost like those falling dreams. There's a moment where you can't catch your breath or see the jagged rocks below you—suspended entirely in the white expanse of sky with only the sensation that you must be going down, that you've left some high point to which your feet can't return. More frightening than cliff-diving, because you couldn't see or hear the ocean, the way it slapped against the rocks. There was no control, just a reckless sense of fear and curiosity.

All packed into a slim, small white stick that I'd urinated on. My hand shook, which was ridiculous, because I never had shaky hands. I wasn't afraid or intimidated by anyone or anything—except the possibility of a tiny person inside of me. A tiny person that looked like Jacob.

I swallowed hard, trying to focus on the little slot that told me yes or no. But I couldn't. For a blurry moment, all I could think about was the last several years with Jacob. How had I gotten here? Jacob had been the last man I would have ever expected to fall in love with.

Me, in love, actually admitting to myself that I was. It was ridiculous. This Leah had died with Sam, hadn't she? Or was this even the same Leah? Things with Sam had been easy and fluid—simple love. With Jacob, I was actually considering another step. I was actually thinking hard about the ring in my pocket.

It was getting harder and harder to be the callous, indifferent Leah toward Jacob. I was losing my composure. I was starting to cave to his demands and some of my own.

_Starting_ to? That was kidding myself.

"Jake, I—"

"What does it say?"

I closed my mouth, staring at the stick, thinking about how Jacob was crowded close to me, practically breathing down my neck—thinking about how he sort of looked hopeful. And thinking about that made it blossom inside of me. It was surreal to suddenly wish that I was really pregnant with Jacob's baby. I could picture us, as a family. I could imagine that it was everything that I had ever wanted.

I looked at the stick, at the results of the test, and I wanted to break it, because it wasn't the answer I wanted. I tossed it away from me, onto the floor. Jake started to speak.

"I'm not pregnant," I said, turning to face him, "but I could be."

He stared at me like I'd sprouted antlers or transformed into a vampire, like he wasn't sure who he was sharing breathing space with. I wanted to kick him in the shin or something, anything to prove to him that I was still the same person, to get him to stop looking at me _like that_. I had an unusual need to cover my breasts with my arm, even though he was looking at my face.

"What are you trying to say here?"

What _was_ I trying to say? I floundered underneath his gaze, feeling stupid for my rash decision to blurt something like that out without thinking it through, but I didn't think that I needed to think it through. I knew that I wanted Jacob, that I wanted a future with him.

"I—I'm trying to say…"

"You're stuttering."

He sounded way too smug about that.

"Fuck off. I'm trying to tell you that I want to marry you."

That wiped the grin off his face. One clean sweep, and he went from looking satisfied to completely bewildered, like I'd just flashed him my tits or something, or confessed to being an alien. Jesus, I wished he'd stop looking at me like _that_. I was trying to tell him what he wanted to hear and be sincere about it. When he looked at me like that, I wanted to say something rude. I wanted to be a smartass.

Like, _you thought I was serious? Ha. Give me a break._

"What?" he croaked.

My hands were shaking again as I dug into my pocket, but I fished out the ring and put it on the appropriate finger myself. It felt cold and foreign, but, within seconds, it was already warming to the temperature of my skin. It had just needed a second, like I'd needed a second to decide that I wanted to get married.

"I want to get married," I said. "I want to have kids."

It was that easy, and I could see it now. Maybe I even had Sam to thank for it. If he hadn't shown up, I wouldn't have gotten closure to the fact that he was never meant for me. I wouldn't have seen the way that Jacob reacted to the pregnancy test.

Now I was just being way too fucking sentimental. I was never going to thank Sam for anything. _Bastard_. Except for making me realize that he was a bastard, maybe.

"Seriously?"

He was starting to grin again.

"Don't make me punch you in the mouth, Black. I put the ring on, didn't I?"

Jacob looked down at my hand, and then back up at me.

"Yeah, I guess you did."

()()()()()

**Renesmee POV**

I could sense his annoyance from a mile away. There was something about it that boiled to the surface, almost as strong as his scent. I was in the sporting goods store to keep up an act—I was my father's cousin, orphaned, living with Edward and Bella, who had taken me in like their own daughter. We were going camping, and I was here to pick up supplies, to play friendly with the locals and raise minimal suspicion.

Why he needed camping gear was beyond me. I'd thought that all wolves had built in space heaters. At the very least, I didn't see why he needed to buy a tent when he could sleep in wolf form and be warmer and more comfortable.

And yet, there he was, scowling, packing other supplies underneath his arms with the tent bag slung over his shoulder. I'd sensed him before he'd walked into the store, but he kept drawing my attention back to him as I perused an aisle of sleeping bags. He was angry, annoyed, practically projecting his thoughts so that I really didn't even need to touch him.

If he noticed me, he didn't acknowledge me—so deeply consumed by his own feelings—until I walked past him, discreetly bumping shoulders in an unapologetic attempt to figure out why he was so angry, and why he was getting camping supplies.

The contact was brief, and the images came in a flurry. He was angry at a girl—one with very big breasts and pouty lips. She was naked—unfortunately for me—in most of his recollections of her. Except for the last one. His last thought of her had her fully clothed.

She was telling him that she didn't feel it anymore. I assumed she meant the sexual stimulation that she was used to. As she spoke, he was imagining her breasts, how he would miss them. I backed away from his envisioning of his own penis trapped deep inside of her.

He was attractive—tall, tan, dark-haired, sort of like Jacob, only shorter by a few inches, younger, different because of the way the look in his eyes seemed restless—but it wasn't how I wanted to see his body. Not that I _wanted_ to see his body. Not that I had ever even considered it until this moment when his thoughts were thrust on me.

She had dumped him, and he was hurting physically, but I couldn't see any real emotional attachment to anything other than the girl's body. I almost smiled. Typical man. Typical train of male thought. I had never been with anyone, but my curiosity had led me to read the thoughts of more than one male—some strangers that I bumped into on the street.

"Renesmee?"

He looked up as our shoulders touched, finally roused from his thoughts. I stopped, because he was one of the few wolves that had ever really given me a chance in the beginning. He had never—as far as I'd seen—considered killing me. That was something, in my book. Besides, I enjoyed interacting with others, feeling them out.

"Hey, Seth. Are you all right?"

I had worn jeans, a simple t-shirt, and tennis shoes, but I had a very distinct feeling that Seth was looking at my breasts. I smiled, because it was sort of nice being ogled, even just a little, even if it was a little strange since it was Seth, who I hadn't seen much of since when I was first born. His curiosity about me had remained only for a little while. Once the excitement over my birth sizzled out, he had wandered off. It seemed he'd completely missed the fact that I'd grown up.

"Yeah. Sure. I—uh—was just looking for some supplies. The guys are all going on a camping trip to celebrate tonight."

"Celebrate what?"

"Leah and Jake are getting married."

There was the smallest disturbance in my good mood—that same sense that Jacob and I had just barely missed something. The feel of his mouth on mine hadn't entirely faded, even though I'd only been a prop in his game to win over Leah, and I had been the instigator.

"Really? That's great."

"Sure, I guess. Weird, but great."

He looked down at the lantern he'd picked up from a shelf just before I'd bumped into him, flipping the knob pointlessly. A whole fifteen seconds went by before either of us could come up with something to say, and then he looked back up at me. It was a long climb for his gaze to reach my face again, it seemed. I tried not to smile.

"Say, do you want to go to the wedding with me? I'm suddenly dateless, it seems. I mean—it's not for another month, but we could—ah—go together."

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from grinning.

"I think that will probably be all right. You want some help carrying that?"

Seth had already perked up considerably.

"Yeah, thanks."

I reached for the lantern, carefully grazing his fingers, and I peeked into Seth's head to see him imagining undressing me.

Well, it was something.

()()()()()

**Jacob POV**

It was still hard to believe that Leah had accepted. A whole week had gone by, and she hadn't changed her mind. In fact, she'd done the opposite: she'd told everyone. I wasn't sure what I should be more surprised by: her saying yes or telling her mom she'd said yes. It was the only time I could ever remember Leah being girly and giggly. It was weird as hell.

I stepped into the kitchen, fresh from a camping trip with the pack, which had been surprisingly enjoyable, even despite the fact that Sam had been there. He'd only spoken to ask, privately, if Leah was expecting, and he'd kept his mouth shut for the rest of the night after I'd said no. Probably because he still remembered being punched in the face, which I saw later that night when we all phased to go on a run.

I'd also seen something particularly surprising in Seth's head: Renesmee. I wasn't going to go there.

Despite those two awkward moments, the camping trip had been an overall success, but I had genuinely missed being around Leah.

I dropped my sleeping bag on the floor right as Leah stepped around the corner, carrying a cake.

"What the hell is that?"

She grinned. "It's a celebratory cake. First I'm going to plant your tits in it, and then I'm going to fuck you like never before. For old time's sake, pretend like you hate me and call me some names while we're at it."

I started to laugh, but Leah stepped toward me and flattened the entire cake against my chest.

* * *

**Author Notes: **I know, it's cruel! I finally come back, and the story is over, but this was the ending that I always intended. Unfortunately, a lot of things cropped up in my life, and it took me awhile to get here. It made the most sense to me, and it seemed like the best way to the end the cake: with more cake. I might do a few possible outtakes eventually, but, for the foreseeable future, this is it for Revenge Cake. However, definitely look for future Jake/Leah one-shots from me. I won't have much time to do a series again for awhile, but I can't completely cut myself off from Jake and Leah. Thanks to all of you faithful fans! I hope you enjoyed the ride and the cake! Leave a review and follow me on twitter (restlessxpen) if you want to stay updated on what I'm doing.


	27. Epilogue  The Next Big Cake

**Author Notes: **I wrote this epilogue to show my undying appreciation to all those of you that have read, reviewed, and recommended my fic. Revenge Cake has, by far, been my most successful fic, as well as the one that I enjoyed working on the most. I'm going to be honest. Every once in awhile, I google the fic to see what's being said about it, and I'm thrilled to see that people are still talking about it. I've found so many different sites in the fandom that have recognized the fic, and I can't tell you how much I enjoy finding out how many people have enjoyed my fic. Even people that aren't normally Blackwater, or even Jacob fans. This fic was written with a great deal of humor, and, well, an explicit sort of mind. I know that it's not for everyone, but I appreciate all the fans I've received on my take on how Jake and Leah-two very headstrong, independent characters-would finally end up together. So consider this my thank you present to those that still enjoy the story. It's not from one of our usual narrators, but I'm hoping it is just as well-received. Thanks again, you guys. You've all been seriously amazing and supportive.

* * *

**Seth POV**

Who invented ties? And where did that asshole get off thinking it should be mandatory to wear one in all formal situations? Tie and tuxedo, my two worst enemies collaborating against me. I shifted from one foot to another, waiting impatiently next to Jacob. My sister needed to hurry her scrawny ass up. The wedding party had all already proceeded down the aisle, but she'd said something about wanting a "full, emotional pause" before the moment that the harp would start playing, and she'd come walking toward her future husband.

Jesus, poor Jake. It was more likely that my sister had needed a full pause for a chance to bolt. I had her fully pegged for a runaway bride, and I still had money on the wager that she wouldn't show up at all. Leah was not the marrying type. Whatever bizarre-o thing that had gone on between her and Jake, it was just too good to be true. Leah was a viper.

And, sometimes, I would have bet more man than woman. She was just really good at concealing her dick. I snorted at my own joke, only to receive on elbow to the ribs from Jake. Straight faces. I'd been commanded by the alpha himself. Straight faces and no jokes at the bride or groom's expense. Shit, these things were murder. I just wanted to hear the I-Do's and retreat for the after party. Liquor. Lots of liquor, and—

Renesmee. I spotted her in the crowd, second row, two seats over from the aisle. Right in between her dear old mom and dad—both of which hardly looked any older than she did. Freaky, fucked up family, but man, did they breed hot babies. I recoiled a bit at my own crudeness. All right, really, not going to think of her like that. Despite her technical age, Renesmee was an adult in body. Her mentality was at adult capacity as well. Whatever weird genetics she had, she didn't seem like a baby to me.

Or look like one. I'd already undressed her in my mind at least a dozen times, and each scenario proved the same to me: she was an adult. A gorgeous, unblemished adult. She was the image of human perfection, and she was still human enough to count. I smiled as she caught my gaze, offering her a conspiratorial wink. She turned a pretty shade of pink and looked away.

O, object of my greatest desire. Ever since she'd cropped up next to me when I'd been shopping for camping supplies for Jake's bachelor party, she'd sprang to mind all number of ways. I couldn't have imagined it, could I? It was like she was fully aware of my every intention at all times. Like she'd known I was sulking in that store over a recent break up, and she was willing to fill the gap. She'd agreed to be my date for the wedding easily enough.

We'd gotten together a few times since. I'd invited her out to see a movie, taken her to dinner. It had been real easy to become quick friends with her. She was easy to talk to and understand. She said what she thought in very plain terms, and she never had me wondering. It was like she had no idea about the formalities girls usually went through to mind-fuck the shit out of guys. She was open, honest, and, Jesus, her _tits_, her bronze hair—thick and silky. Despite the fact that I felt she was responsive to my desires, I hadn't really tried much with her.

A few kisses, hand-holding. Nothing major, just testing the waters. Tonight—Tonight was going to be different. Her dress—a dark red sleeve of cloth—would have been enough to boil my blood with all those bronze curls falling around it, but it was an image in my head that was spurring me to act. It'd struck me the previous night when I'd dropped her off at her place. I'd kissed her goodbye, and then she'd reached up and touched my face, and the idea just sort of—exploded in my head. She was standing there looking gorgeous in the half light of the moon coming down through the trees, and I was just slammed with this vision of peeling her out of this dress, tasting her mouth and neck. I could—I could practically hear her moaning. And then she'd dropped her hand, and smiled at me, like she knew, and it was like an invitation. A sign. It was going to be tonight.

I scowled as Jacob elbowed me in the ribs again, but any retort was lost in the sound of harp-playing, which had begun without my notice.

_Holy hell_. My sister was actually walking down the aisle. White dress, makeup, girly hair-do and all. There went twenty bucks on me.

()()()()

"Seth, could you help Renesmee in the kitchen? But hurry it up. Once the pictures are taken, we'll need you back out here for pictures."

"Sure, mom."

Any excuse to get out of the main crowd of people and all the offers of congratulations. Which I didn't understand. I hadn't just gotten married, and Jake had probably already been more like my brother than most people knew. Plus, I didn't want to hear any more leading questions like, "Your sister's finally married. Are you seeing anyone you're interested in?"

Nosy bastards. To all of which he'd replied with a, "Nope."

Pushing his way into the kitchen, Seth looked around for his savior. What he saw first was the wedding cake: a simple, one layer cake with a bride and groom figure on top. Vanilla, no frills. A typical sign of his sister.

"Nessie?"

Seth jolted as the door shut behind him, followed immediately by the sound of the bolt sliding home. He turned and very nearly swallowed his tongue. Renesmee had mussed her hair and had allowed the straps of her dress to slide down over her shoulders, hanging loosely on her arms. Sexy, but not nearly as provocative as the fact that she'd hitched her little sleeve dress up at the bottom. The length stopped just short of flashing her velvet love pocket and ass.

That would have been enough on its own, but Renesmee had thoroughly prepared herself, made all the right moves to raise his arousal to its peak. She wasn't wearing any underwear. He could tell without searching for the telling signs against the material of her dress. He could smell her, wet and heavy with arousal. There was no barrier between the smell and the open air. The length of his dick was hard so fast it nearly hurt. He even winced a little.

"Nessie, what are you—?"

"I want to. Right here. I know you do too, and this setting was...inspired."

"I-Inspired?"

"I'll explain. But first, you should really do something about this."

She moved past me, barely grazing my shoulder.

_Touch me._

It was a little whisper inside my head, but I turned all the same, desperate to do just that as Renesmee lifted herself onto the edge of the counter. It was just enough of a glimpse between her legs. I followed her over, letting my hand move between those legs when she didn't object, searching for what I'd just glimpsed. I slid my fingers in, and her legs parted. Her breath caught. Her head tilted back. One hand touched my arm.

_Take off your pants._

I paused, looked up at her. "Are you-? Are you talking inside my head?"

Her head tilted forward, a mischievous smile on her face, and then she lifted both hands to either side of my face. The resulting movie reel that played inside my head made me stagger into the counter, grunting out a labored breath. She was envisioning the length of my dick sliding into her mouth, grazing her teeth lightly, very lightly. The pressure of sucking, releasing. The way she made me slick and ready, ready just for her. Ready for me to take her. On the counter.

I worked my pants off so fast it was a miracle I didn't rip them.

I reached for her hips, but the next image she sent through my head made my hands convulse on open air, my heart race like we were already mid-fuck, and I was coming down the home stretch. An image of her tits bouncing with each thrust, nipples taut and erect, waiting for me to take them in my mouth. I couldn't think clearly as she assaulted my senses. Her flesh would taste like sweet nectar, she told me without saying a word. All I had to do was taste, sample.

"Nessie, let me breathe. Just let me—"

I dug my fingers into the material of her dress, roughly pulling the top down. It fit so snugly that it seemed to pull off like a second skin, finally exhaling her breasts, pale globes for me to—Renesmee's hand slid to the back of my head, and she pulled me forward sharply, all but forcing me to inhale her nipple into my mouth. I felt her tremble at the contact. I couldn't take much more of this before my brain exploded. I took her legs, urging them apart.

I pressed forward, looking for the home that would assuage some of the grief of my throbbing dick. The head parted her lips, nursed forward further, sliding gradually into place while I watched her eyes darken deliciously. She inhaled a very long breath, clenching around me. I was going to go crazy from it. When her fingernails dug into my shoulders, I started pumping. And it was like deja vu as I watched her breasts bounce from the force of motion.

But it wasn't enough. I wanted more, and she was sitting just out of full reach. I climbed up, pressing her back until we were both on the counter. Now I could find her mouth with mine, sliding my tongue in between her teeth as I pressed my full length into her, nearly lifting her ass off the counter. She gasped into my mouth, and I nearly laughed, delirious.

And then somehow—and I was fairly certain it was by her design—she fell backward, and I went with her, fully conscious of the sound of her back squelching into my sister's wedding cake. My eyes popped open, and I pulled back immediately. Thought it wouldn't have helped anything. Two small halves of cake poked out on either side of Renesmee, but her glorious, delicate, tantalizing body covered the rest. I surveyed the damage sensing my own murder looming on the horizon.

"Shit. Oh, shit. Their cake, Nessie. My sister will murder us."

"So you want to stop now? Over one little accident? Don't you like cake, Seth?"

There was icing on her fingertip. Very slowly, she traced the icing onto her body, starting at her belly button. The line went up, curved a circle around one nipple and then the other. Her other hand brought icing to her mouth. A thin layer brushed her lips like lipstick, and then her fingertip disappeared into her mouth. Oh, _fuck_.

All thoughts of consequence fleeing, I leaned down, tracing my tongue over the line of icing to her breast. I took all of it off with one glorious suck of her nipple that had her arching into me, a moan resonating from her lips. And it was more than that. Her hands were radiating images into my skull. An image of my dick sliding into her, her hands digging into my flesh, her head thrown back, the cake seeping into her skin. Her bronze hair fanned out around her. Images of how my whole life had just come down to one person. I had to have her. Again and again and again.

The realization was so large and consuming that I barely heard a fist banging on the door.

"Seth? Seth! Why is this door locked? What the hell are you doing! It's time for the toasts and cake!"

Leah's voice was edging toward frantic, as if she could sense what was going on. Any other time, it would have been real fucking awkward to know a door separated his wild, hot sex from his sister, but he was in too deep now. He took Renesmee's hips and sought for a deeper hold. A small cry issued from her lips.

"What was that? What the fuck was that?" A short, angry pause, and then, "Not the cake, Seth! If you're on my fucking cake, I'm going to murder you with my bare hands!"

If this mind-blowing sex didn't kill him, she could have a go. Jesus. He'd risk it. Who knew cake could be so damn sexy?


End file.
